Week 1 done! It has been lovely to see so many smiles and so much sun. You may have noticed the trees laden with blossom near the entrance to the school – it looks lovely and Spring like (though after today’s wind, there is not *that* much blossom left on the trees themselves) and is a good reminder that brighter days are coming. We are already enjoying the longer evenings, but please find a list of reminders for this term below for your information:

Friday Finish – please remember that we are no longer finishing early on a Friday. We are reverting back to a normal school day, which means that pupils should be picked up at the same time as every other day in the week.  Deep cleans are still happening on a Friday; they are now just starting later.

Please note the pick-up timings for all year groups below:

Nursery – 1425 – 1445

Year R - 1425 – 1435

Year 1– 1435 – 1450

Year 2 – 1430 – 1445

Year 3 – 1455 – 1505

Year 4 – 1445 – 1455

Year 5 – 1455 – 1505

Year 6 – 1445 – 1455

If you have more than one child, please collect at the time of your eldest child.

Clubs start on Monday 26 April 2021

Vey excitingly, we also are now running one after school club for each year group for Years 1- 6. In order to still keep all Year Groups apart at all times, there is NO mixing of year groups for clubs and each year group has their own club only.  The clubs are set out below, with their start and finish times. Collection of pupils at the end of clubs will be in the same place as you would normally pick up. Please see below for the details.

Uniform, PE Kit and Hair

Please feel free to wear the School’s Summer Uniform from now.  Please remember that shoes should be flat and black (Boots are not for this term please).

PE kit should be: White T Shirt or Wadebridge PE Top/Dark shorts, PE Skirt, dark leggings or tracksuit bottoms/Wadebridge PE Jumper, School Jumper or PLAIN DARK Jumper/White Sports Socks/Trainers. 

Hair that is longer than collar length must be tied back. All hair accessories should be gold and/or burgundy (no other colours please). 

Thank you for your support with all of these things – it is very much appreciated.

I also would like to talk about a little bit about autism awareness in this Blog. You may remember that we wore blue to recognise National Autism Awareness Week on Thursday 1 April, but what you might not know is that in our last day assembly, a very brave boy called Leo spoke to the entire school via our TEAMS assembly about what it means to be autistic and what he finds difficult. He also talked about what he does not find difficult, which was fantastic! He made everyone smile and I was very proud of him. I was also really proud of Mason in Year 6 as he gave out his class’s Shining Stars for the week and he was so good that if I did not know that he was a pupil, he could have passed for a teacher. His voice was strong and clear and he just got on with it!

This week, our whole school assembly focused on introducing a new PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) topic. The topic for this half term for the whole school is relationships, and we talked about the different relationships that we can have; how they are ALL important and how they all mean something to us. We thought about who we loved and wanted to spend time with, and why, and we thought about and talked about what can happen if something isn’t right in a relationship. We used cakes as an analogy (always a good idea), and realised that if any one of the ingredients in a cake isn’t there, the cake can taste very different (not in a good way). We then likened cakes to relationships in order to understand that what we put in very much determines what we get out. We thought about relationship ingredients and what would make a great relationship. We will be working more on this over this next half term and it promises to be really enlightening.  

A reminder that all parents can use the lateral Flow Device Testing Kits at home. Parents can order them online using the link below or you can collect them directly from the Covid Centre behind the Library in Bodmin.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

Last but not least: Please also remember to label lunchboxes and please remember that we are a NUT FREE school.  This includes NO Nutella please. Please know that this hurts me as much as it might hurt your children as I absolutely love it.

Take good care, enjoy the sunshine and stay safe,

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

We made it!

It has been a long term, but a happy one. Being together for the last four weeks has really helped everyone’s morale and today’s assembly, where we celebrated the fantastic decorated eggs, was really uplifting. Our newly formed Head and Deputy Head Pupil Leadership Team were entirely in control of the competition judging and they wore their masks and scrutinised (not going near any other pupils) all of the competition eggs in the school. The first thing that they said when they reported back to me was how difficult it was to choose the winners! There were a lot of special mentions, I can tell you.

Seeing so many wonderfully decorated eggs come in to school today was wonderful and it showed just how creative we are at WPA – I would have liked to mention all of them as they were ALL amazing but no one has that amount of patience or reading span so I will only mention the winners. Stanley (YR), Archie (Y6) and Alfie (Y4) were the overall winners and they are shown in the attached pictures with their wonderfully decorated eggs.  WELL DONE to everyone who decorated though – you all did an eggcellent job.

This week we have had really good news regarding the Bag2School FOWPA collection – you raised an amazing £363! AND, as our Facebook page states, lots of you now have more room in your drawers. Phew!

We also had our second 100 Club draw yesterday too and we are delighted to announce that the winners are: Jackie Cann (1st Prize), Tony Cann (2nd Prize) and Katreen Bellringer (3rd Prize). A huge well done to the winners and fingers crossed for the next draw!

A reminder that all parents can use the lateral Flow Device Testing Kits at home. Parents can order them online using the link below or you can collect them directly from the Covid Centre behind the Library in Bodmin.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

Please remember that we have an INSET day on Monday 19 April and the school is closed. The first day of term is Tuesday 20 April. Hurrah!

The timings for drop off and pick ups next term are EXACTLY THE SAME as this term. We still need to ensure that as few people are in school at any time, so please stick to the set timings – it is so appreciated.

Almost there…. We love that you are keeping in touch and teachers are always more than happy to receive emails with any questions or concerns you may have. However, please note that teachers work incredibly long hours and will only be able to reply to your emails during the working day, Monday to Friday. All teachers are teaching in class on a full-time basis now, so please do not always expect an immediate reply but know that they will be in contact with you as soon as possible. If you ever have an urgent concern, please contact the school office and ask for a message to be sent to your child’s class teacher as they will always respond immediately to this. Thank you for your support with this.

Last thing before happy holidays:

Please remember to label lunchboxes (you would be amazed how many pupils have the same lunchbox…) and please remember that we are a NUT FREE school.

I wish you all the most relaxing and recharging Easter Break and I look forward very much to seeing you all on Tuesday 20 April.

Take good care and stay safe

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers

It has been a hugely busy but enjoyable week. The marvellous Learning Ambassadors are starting to make their mark and Head Girl Isobel even gave out her class’ shining star certificates this morning – it was lovely!

The Pupil Leadership Team will also be judging the Easter Egg decorating competition that is attached – please have a read. Your job (should you choose to accept it) is to boil an egg, and then decorate it in the most flamboyant way possible. Given the impressive entries into the Toilet Roll competition, I am very much looking forward to seeing what the WPA pupils can do!

Bag2School – WOW! Your donations were stupendous and to be honest, the van who came to pick it all up was extremely lucky to get it all in his very large long wheel base transit.  FOWPA are waiting to hear what we have raised but we THANK YOU for it all.

The ‘Our Wonderful Cornwall’ Photo Competition is still open too – don’t forget to send in your best photo of our county (it can be a countryside pic, a building pic, a seascape pic or an anything pic really – as long as it shows Cornwall) by Friday 23 April 2021. Entries should be sent to Janetkeat@wadebridgeprimary.co.uk as an attachment. I can’t wait to see them all!

This week saw the very last Early Friday finish. We will still be having a Friday deep clean,; the cleaners will just start at bit later on. From the first Friday back after Easter (Friday 23 April), the school days will all end at the same time. I will remind you of the finish times next week in a separate letter so that you can have it to hand, but as ever, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

There are egg-citing things coming up next week – we have the Easter Egg competition to prepare for and then bring in; we have the end of term coming up (Thursday 1 April is the last day of term and we are finishing early) AND the clocks go forward this weekend so it is even lighter in the evenings. Hurrah! 

Driving into School: Please remember that the Speed Limit is 10 mph and please remember that there is NO parking in school – it is for Drop Off and Pick Up only.  Thank you very much.

Last thing for today: A message from Connect Church Wadebridge about an Easter Trail:

Connect Church (formerly Wadebridge Christian Centre) are running 'The Seriously Surprising Adventure Trail' on Saturday 3rd April from 2-5pm. This will be a family friendly walk around Wadebridge ending at Connect Church: exchange your answer sheet for a prize and the end of the trail.

Link to answer sheet (print your own – we will also post on social media):
https://connectchurchcornwall-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/izzy_connectchurch_uk/ERWyDT0vYkxGjUOcHVfGDj8BDGw12cBXadB78tPe1WFDvg?e=6egNdI

Link to map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1oJs_na14aLFJsF_wEH2KIViYzVRxtnYz&usp=sharing

Phew! We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can’t wait to see you on Monday.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a fantastic week. We have seen some sunshine, done lots of fantastic work and are really settling back into the swing of everyone being back in school.

PUPIL LEADERSHIP
Wednesday’s assembly was very special as every pupil in Years 1-6 and all staff members got to vote for our newly expanding Pupil Leadership Team. We saw potential House Captains and Head Boys and Head Girls give some truly fantastic speeches, saying why they would be the right choice for the role that they wanted, and I have to say, the results were amazingly close. We now have a Head Boy (Tom), a Deputy Head Boy (the results were so close that we had to have two!) (Danny), a Head Girl (Isobel) and a Deputy Head Girl (Eliza). Hurrah! These pupils are everything that we could ask for in Pupil Leaders and I am delighted that it is these pupils who are our first ever Senior Pupil Leaders. They all wholeheartedly and thoroughly deserve their role and I cannot wait to work with them in leading the pupils throughout the school. You will see lots of them in the coming months!

The House Captains were just as closely contested. Every boy and girl that applied gave genuinely outstanding speeches, and we wished that we could appoint every single one of them.

Choughs House Captains are Oscar and Holly
Cormorants House Captains are Rosie and Leo
Puffins House Captains are Connie and Jack
Swans House Captains are Teagan and Poppy

We also appointed 30 Bridge Ambassadors today! Every Year Group in Years 1-6 were tasked with appointing – through letters of application – Ambassadors for our Bridge Values. We now have in years 1 – 4 an Ideas Iguana, a Have a Go Hippo, a Find Out Flamingo, a Keep Going Koala and a Team Work Turtle. In Years 5 and 6 we have an Ideas Einstein, a Don’t Stop Darwin, a (H)ave a go Alexander, a Curious Curie and a Work Together Winston. They are a super group of pupils and we are really looking forward to them leading the learning across their Year Groups.

We also felt that the ambassadors needed a leader. It is a tricky job to lead a whole year group of learners and we thought that there needed to be someone to lead the Ambassadors and help them to fulfil their roles too. We have appointed Hannah as Head Ambassador. Hannah, just as all of the ambassadors do, embodies every single Bridge Value and we are delighted to see her in this role.

Every single leader appointed today completely deserves their role and we cannot wait to see them in action. I will take photos when it is NOT Red Nose Day…

A huge well done to all who went for the roles though – it is a very big deal to put yourself forward for something and it can be really hard when you are not successful, but I am so proud of every single Year 6 pupil who put themselves out there. The votes were genuinely very close indeed.

Just a few short reminders!

BAGS 2 SCHOOL
Collection of clothes on TUESDAY 23 March. Please bring your bags of clothes to school on Tuesday Morning for collection.

PARKING
Please remember that there is NO Parking on site for any parents apart from those in the Nursery. There is also NO PARKING at the Comp AT ALL. There is plenty of parking at the Cormac Offices and at least it is light both in the morning and the afternoon now!

SPEED & ZEBRA CROSSING
Please remember that the speed limit from the entrance to the school is 10 mph. Could you also please make sure that you are not blocking the zebra crossing at any time, or parking on the bend of the school drive. It causes a huge backlog and makes things run so much more slowly. Thank you so very much to all who are already not doing any of these things and for using the drop off and pick up lanes – it is very much appreciated.

Red Nose Day costumes and themes today have been BRILLIANT! The Reception Year Group Team DID come dressed as Breakfast (Sausage, Egg, Toast and Beans). There were some fantastic sights to see too – I must mention Flip and Flop, twins in Year 2 who actually came to school dressed as Flip Flops, complete with life size footwear. Fabulous! We took LOTS of pictures so please do look out for them on the blog and in the class pages and events page. Phew! We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can’t wait to see you on Monday.

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers

What a wonderful first week back. I can imagine that the exhaustion levels are high, but I hope that you have all enjoyed the week as much as we have. Our cheeks are hurting from smiling so much (though it also could be due to the high winds over the last couple of days…).

I will not overload you with lots this week as I know that you have a weekend to enjoy, but I wanted to thank everyone who has arrived at the right time to drop off and pick up this week. It has been extremely busy, but we have really appreciated the effort that has been made.   Do please keep an eye on the drop off and pick up times as it is really important that we try and keep these times as tight as possible. I have set out the timings again below, just in case a reminder would help:

DROP OFF
Nursery – 0825 - 0845
Year R/Year 2/Year 4/Year 6: 0820 – 0835<
Year 1/Year 3/Year 5: 0830 – 0845
Year 4 – 0820 – 0835<

PICK UP (The timings in brackets are for the Friday pick up for the rest of this term)
Nursery – 1425 – 1445 (1225 – 1245)
Year R - 1425 – 1435 (1225 – 1235)
Year 1– 1435 – 1450 (1235 – 1250)<
Year 2 – 1430 – 1445 (1230 – 1245)
Year 3/Year 5 – 1455 – 1505 (1255 – 1305)
Year 4/Year 6 – 1445 – 1455 (1245 – 1255)

Please also remember that there is NO Parking on site for any parents apart from those in the Nursery. If your children are in Reception to Year 6, you are able to drop off only. There are two drop off lanes – one for KS2 and one for Reception and KS1. If you want to walk down with your child to drop them off, you must park outside of the school grounds (not on the road into the school) and walk them in. I know that it is a pain, but it really does help the traffic to flow.

This week was ‘Science Week’ and my goodness we have seen some fabulous experiments and lessons. We even saw a live experiment in our first live Shining Stars Assembly this morning with Year 5 showing us how to make a rocket fly. It even worked first time, which was a relief!

This week also saw us looking at the effect of litter and waste on our environment. We looked at what we can do to make our school the most beautiful it can be (picking up all of the rubbish) and we looked at how we can help save the environment. There were some lovely ideas, but the one thing that seems to be working really well is that we now have lights monitors in every class, who turn the lights off every time they leave the classroom or see an empty classroom with lights on. Many a teacher this week has been plunged into near darkness as a child cracks open the door and turns the lights off, but we are getting there in terms of them checking now… Some Year 3 girls have also formed their very own (elite) litter picking team, and the outside areas that they use are looking spotless! Thank you, Year 3s!&

Next week is also not quite a normal week as on Friday 19 March it is RED NOSE DAY!

And as you know, we love any opportunity to dress up, so…. Our theme this year is 'let's get laughing'! What we would like you to do is come to school on Friday dressed in your funniest and craziest costumes (for example, the Reception (year group, not Caroline and Marcia…) Team are thinking about dressing up as breakfast. I am very much looking forward to seeing how that turns out.  We will write again to remind you next week but get your funniest and craziest thinking caps on please.

We are also going to be celebrating World Autism Awareness Week in the last week of term (29 March – 1 April). Watch this space as more information will be coming out soon.

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can’t wait to see you on Monday.

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Dear Parents and Carers

We have made it! We will all be together again on Monday (though in our own Year Group Bubble…). I have seen so many excited faces today (and that was just the teachers) and I know that the Teams meetings in Years 1-6 went really well. We hope that you are as excited as we are, but I wonder if you could please read this short message out to your children:

Dear Everybody at WPA,

Hello you lovely lot! We have missed you SO much and we literally cannot wait to see you on Monday. I just wanted to reassure you that everything will be the same as when you were last in school. Your teachers will be the same, the TAs will be the same (though we are also welcoming Mrs King back into Year 3), your classrooms will be the same and your class will be the same. You will be able to see everyone who you have missed since January and they will be able to see you. Phew!Don’t worry if you are a bit wobbly; there will be lots of familiar faces to greet you on Monday and it is even supposed to be sunny! If you are not wobbly, please can you make sure that you help those who might be. <

Take good care this weekend, and get lots of sleep. Make sure that you go to bed nice and early on Sunday night and that you eat a good breakfast on Monday so that you are ready for the day. 

P.S. If you are in Years 2, 3, and 6, please remember to come to school in your PE Kit, as you have PE. 

Lots of love, Ms Whitlock

Thank you. We have also attached some lovely messages that the staff at WPA want the pupils to know. Have a read!<

As I mentioned in my letter, we are needing to still be really tight about making sure that we have as few people on the school grounds as possible, so please remember that there is NO Parking on site for any parents apart from those in the Nursery. If your children are in Reception to Year 6, you are able to drop off only. There are two drop off lanes – one for KS2 and one for Reception and KS1. If you want to walk down with your child to drop them off, you must park outside of the school grounds (not on the road into the school) and walk them in. At least it promises to be good weather to start us off!

Please also remember to wear a face covering if you are outside of the car when on the school premises.

A reminder of the drop off and pick up times are below (just in case!):

DROP OFF
Nursery – 0825 - 0845
Year R/Year 2/Year 4/Year 6: 0820 – 0835
Year 1/Year 3/Year 5: 0830 – 0845

PICK UP The timings in brackets are for the Friday pick up for the rest of this term:
Year 1– 1435 – 1450 (1235 – 1250)
Year 2 – 1430 – 1445 (1230 – 1245)
Year 3/Year 5 – 1455 – 1505 (1255 – 1305)
Year 4/Year 6 – 1445 – 1455 (1245 – 1255)

A quick message about Homework:
From next week, teachers in some year groups will be trialing use of Teams to set weekly homework tasks. Please keep an eye on your child’s Teams account (we will of course tell them that we are setting their homework via Teams) and look out for posts and messages from your teachers with more details. We would very much like to continue using Teams as a learning platform even though pupils are now returning to school.

I am genuinely really excited and I hope that you are too. Please remember that we are here to support you and to help in any way. Do get in touch if there is anything that we can help with, and until Monday; stay safe, stay well and take care.

SEE YOU ON MONDAY (giant smiley face),

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock