Notices and Reminders

World Book Day – Thursday 2 March

Thursday 2 March is World Book Day! We are celebrating this national event by transforming the Drawing Room and the Junior Hall into two huge bookshops provided by the Travelling Book Company. Pupils will have the chance to browse the books and make purchases.

As part of this national celebration of reading, each pupil will receive a £1 book token, redeemable against any book purchased on 2 March.

As in previous years, we invite all pupils and staff to dress up as their favourite character from a book, and we ask that £1 is donated to the World Book Day charity via this link

Please click here before Monday 20 February to complete the Google form confirming whether your child can participate in the book sale, their maximum spend amount and that you are happy for the cost of the book/books to be added to your account.

Forthcoming Events

Don’t forget we also have another ‘Special Adult in the House’ morning on Tuesday and on Friday the School will be hosting its termly Open Morning.  If you know anyone who might be interested in attending either this event or our Woodlands Nursery Stay and Play event on 3 March, they can register to attend either event here.

This Week in Woodlands

Wow! Week Four of term is done, and what a wonderful week we have enjoyed. Thank yous this week go to

• Woodlands teacher Emma for planning our special Maths Focus Day on Thursday;
• Mrs Le Bas for organising a Forest School afternoon for the children on Monday;
• Mrs Wilkins, Head of English for arranging for her Year 6 pupils to come to Woodlands to read to our children on Thursday as part of National Storytelling Week. Take a look at some photos from our reading session below:

And finally one more BIG thank you to all the Beechwood teachers and non-teaching adults (who are too many to name), who work together to ensure that your children have the very best weeks at Beechwood.

Forest School

The sun shone brightly through the trees on our first Forest School session of the new year. We spotted snowdrops peeking their way through the earth as we made our way to the woods. Then, we checked on the progress of the new trees we planted last year. Once we sat around the fire circle the children enjoyed a warm hot chocolate (or juice) and they enjoyed a woodland snack as the birds sang in the trees. They also went on a letter hunt, found some new woodland fairies, explored binoculars, bugs and the mud kitchen. It really was a most idyllic way to spend a Monday afternoon.

Maths is all around us

On Thursday, this week, we had a whole day focused on maths activities. Our day began with some Year 6 pupils visiting us to share number stories. It was lovely for the children to be able to mix in this way again after such a long time without any ‘buddying up’ between the younger and older students. Throughout the day, the children worked in teams to complete maths missions involving measuring areas using footsteps, finding out about the distance that water spray could travel and preparing delicious smoothies. The trickiest part of the day was when the children had to vote for their favourite smoothie because they could only choose one! Mrs McIntosh popped in at the end of the day to find out all about the missions that the children had completed. She was so amazed by how great the Woodlanders are at maths and investigating that she awarded everyone with a medal.

Super work from our maths stars!

Our Newest Woodlanders

Teacher Catherine who leads the Story and Rhyme Time sessions for our N1 Woodlanders writes; ‘It has been wonderful to welcome our new Woodlanders so far this term. They have been learning our Nursery routine and are doing well to keep up with our busy days, full of fun-packed learning! They are learning how to sit and listen at carpet times, where to hang their coat on the peg racks, how to scrape their plates after finishing their lunches and how to line up, amongst many other new skills. They are also getting to know their Woodlands’ teachers and other children as well as becoming more familiar each day, with the Woodlands environment. A big ‘well done’ to our new children for a superb start to the term and a huge thank you to our existing Woodlanders for welcoming them with kindness. We are all looking forward to being part of your learning journeys”.

Next Week is NATURE WEEK

From  6 – 10 February, every Woodlander will be immersed in nature. We plan to learn about seeds, flowers, recording weather conditions, using herbs to create potions, exploring our woods for living plants and creatures and much more.

Let the learning, fun and excitement continue.,

Happy Weekend to you all,

Shirley Hayman
Head of Woodlands Nursery

From the Junior Librarians

Lost in the City by Alice Courtley

Lost in the City is a Spot & Find book with a compelling underlying storyline. Maya heads to the big city with her Granny. She would have preferred to bring her kitten Sammy with her but Granny said it’s no place for a cat. Initially Maya thinks the city is big and scary, and that she is too small for the city. However, when she learns that Sammy has stowed away in her bag and is now lost, it’s up to Maya to face her worries and find him. 

A fantastic story about trying new things and potentially enjoying them, wrapped up with engaging illustrations and lots of opportunities to spot Sammy.