For translation, a text-only version of the current newsletter is shown below.

Newsletter: Summer 2, 2022

Hello!
Welcome back to this busy final term of the year! I hope you and your families are keeping well.

Classes for next year
We are busy working on our staffing for next year and you will soon find out which class your child will be in, and who their teacher will be. To balance classes, we usually mix children at the end of Reception, Year 2 and Year 5.

Children will spend time in their new classes on Friday 1^st July. This is also the day when Y6 children will visit their new secondary schools.

Assessments
As you know, children complete assessments during the summer term. You will receive information about your child’s progress and attainment in their annual report, which will be sent out in July.

Sun safety
In the hot summer weather, children should bring their water bottle to school. They can fill these up in their classroom during the day.

Please consider what your child is wearing to ensure they are comfortable and don’t have too many layers of clothing. The classrooms get warm, and children only need their polo shirts or summer dresses and light jackets at this time of year. Children can also wear black or grey school shorts. Trainers and shoes should be plain black, and sandals should be black or white and fastened at the ankle (not flip flops).

It is also good to send your child in with a cap or sun hat to wear during lunch and playtimes. If it is a hot, sunny day, please also apply sunscreen before they come to school.

Term dates for 2021-22
The term dates for next year are attached. School finishes on Friday 22^nd July. Y1 to Y6 return for the new school year on Monday 5^th September. 

If your child is starting Reception, those moving up from Nursery will start on Tuesday 6^th September, and those who are new to Wellington will start on Wednesday 7^th September.

Medical conditions and medicines
If your child has a new medical condition, or their condition or medication has recently changed, please inform us by contacting Mrs Hubble in the office, or speaking to Mrs Bennett at the main gate.

If your child has asthma or a severe allergy and uses an adrenaline auto-injector, then please ensure that their medicines are always in school.

You should have given permission for us to administer the emergency medication, and for auto-injector users, we should have two medicines available. If you are unsure whether you have done this, please contact the office.

Mobile phones
Greet your child with a smile – not a mobile! 

You may have seen this message outside other schools, and this is something we are working to adopt. When you arrive, please put your mobile phone away. You can then chat to your child about their day!

Some good news from our parent volunteers – well done!

Wellington Wellbeing: Parents get busy organising
The Wellington food bank volunteers and Mrs Bennett have been busy over recent weeks preparing a project pitch and submitting a formal bid to Population Health for a maximum of £1000 grant for health and wellbeing activities for the school community.

Population Health is part of Bromley by Bow Health and supported by Primary Care Networks in Tower Hamlets.

A community voting day was held on the 21st of May at Lighthouse Church, Devons Road, where our project ideas were presented, and members of the community took part in voting for the projects.

We are pleased to announce that our project 'Wellington Wellbeing' was a winner and successful in securing the grant amongst many other community projects.

We are using this grant to run after school family fitness sessions, art and textile activities and will organise a school event to promote wellbeing amongst families in our school community.

More information will be available soon.
Shaira

Ice-cream
It’s that time of year again when the ice cream van can often be found parked on Wellington Way at the end of the school day, especially in warmer weather. Although ice-cream is fine as an occasional treat, we would advise that you don’t buy it too often. We would also ask that parents do not buy ice-cream before the end of school and then bring it into the playground.

Eating more healthily reduces the risk of health problems and gives children more energy for the school day.

Thank you for your ongoing support in helping us to ensure our children are as healthy as possible!

School uniform
It’s that time of year when families are buying school uniform, so everyone looks smart for their new classes. Please remember that children should be in school uniform every day:

- Black jumper
- Polo shirt (red, yellow, white, blue, green)
- Summer dress (red, yellow, blue, green)
- Grey or black trousers, skirt or shorts
- Plain trainers or shoes (or black or white sandals which fully surround the foot in summer)
- If children are wearing a head scarf, these should be plain black or plain white
- No jewellery – stud earrings and watches only

Please make sure that footwear is plain black without logos or splashes of colour. We recommend plain black trainers, as children are very active during the school day.

Please also use the recommended book bag and drawstring bag for PE. We struggle to store anything bigger, so we would ask that children don’t bring large bags or rucksacks.

Attendance and punctuality

Thank you to everyone who is making the effort to be in class before 8.55am. The main gates open from 8.45am and children arriving after 8.55am are late. Please ensure your child is in school every day and arrives before 8.55am. The gates open at 8.45am.

Well done to those children with high attendance and who are on time every day.

Our attendance figures have dropped, and we need to work on this together to get our attendance back up towards our target of 97%. Even when we take account of Covid absence, we are noticing a big drop in attendance. Please send your child into school on time every day unless they are very unwell, have been sick, have diarrhoea, or have a high temperature.

We know that children whose attendance falls below our target of 97% lose valuable learning time and can struggle to catch up.

Please let us know if your child is going to be absent by telephoning the school office first thing in the morning on
020 8980 2413. Please make medical and dental appointments outside of school time and avoid travelling during term time – holidays are never authorised.

The DfE have published new guidance to address lower attendance in schools. This will have implications for how we monitor attendance and the absence we are able to authorise from September.

Summer exhibition

This year, Wellington will be hosting our first 'Summer Exhibition' of children's artwork. Children from Nursery to Year 6 are encouraged to enter a piece of artwork no bigger than A3 based on the theme of 'Nature'. 

The competition will be judged by a representative from the Tate Modern and prizes awarded to the best entries from each phase. All entries will be on display for parents to view from 13th - 20th July, so do come and take a look!