Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Team of pupils from across the school compete in School Games Panathlon event

  Wed 01 Mar 2023

  On Monday 27th February pupils from across Year 2 - Year 5 competed in a Panathlon event at Sarum Academy. The event was all part of Whiteparish's engagement with the school games programme and our drive to ensure that all children have the opportunity to partake in off site sporting and physical activities. Isobel from Year 4 takes up the story ...

   

  We went to the panathlon and competed in different sports like kurling, bowling and boccia. There were 10 schools taking part and we came 4^th place! We all received a medal and some of us got certificates for showing the Sports Values of Perseverance or Self-Belief or Determination, we loved it! 

   

   

  

• World Book Day Update and On-going Literacy Activities

  Tue 28 Feb 2023

  Dear Parents/Carers,

   

  As World Book Day is approaching we would like to invite all learners to dress as their favourite character from a book/ comic on the 2^nd of March 2023. Please can your child also bring the book/ comic with them to school relating to their character. We will get into our houses and have discussions around our books and characters.

   

  To further the development of reading for pleasure, March will be Literacy month at school. Throughout March learners will partake in various tasks and activities to create an enjoyment and pleasure in reading, and build an understanding of what an author is. These activities will include reading in houses independently, paired reading and group reading, viewing secret reader videos that the teachers and teaching staff have made, creatively acting out parts from a book and creating a short book of their own as an author.

   

  We aim to create a love of reading throughout the school while allowing learners to work across classes and year groups. We value your support through this Literacy month and encourage parents/ careers to have discussions with their child/ children around Literacy.

   

  Can I also remind you that the school mobile library will be outside of school on World Book Day (2^nd March 2023) and also again on Thursday 30^th March 2023. Children should bring in their library cards so they are able to access this service.

   

   

  Yours sincerely,

   

  Mrs Allen

  Lead Reader, Lead Writer & Year 1/2 Teacher

• Falcons Class attend Fun-damentals sporting event

  Thu 09 Feb 2023

  The whole of Falcons class attended a Fun-damentals multi sports event at Wyvern St Edmunds secondary school on Wednesday 8th February. Jude and Henry from Year 2 give a brief overview of the event …

   

  Falcons class went to Fundamentals. We played lots of sports games. My favourite was yoga and my favourite was bulls eye.

  By Jude and Henry (Yr2).

   

  Not only did all the children have a fantastic time but Falcons class also won the only whole school award for the being the most well-mannered school! A superb achievement. A huge thank you to Mrs Allen for organising the event and to all the parents who supported with transport.

  

• Year 3/4 Gymnastics Festival

  Thu 09 Feb 2023

  Imogen and Isabelle report on their involvement in a year 3/4 inter schools gymnastic festival ...

   

  Last week 10 of us went to a gymnastics festival. When we got there we played duck, duck, goose with Lorna and Betty, two ex-pupils of Whiteparish. After duck, duck, goose we got inot pairs and did special activities, such as learning to do handstands and balancing beams.

  We had to be strong and flexible and show perseverance when the forward rolls were difficult.

  We had a great time, thank you to Mrs Mckenzie for taking us.

   

  A special mention to Ted and Jakey who won a special award for great teamwork and to Isabelle who won an award for showing honesty.

   

  

• Owls Class' Little Library - Promoting the love of reading.

  Tue 07 Feb 2023

  On Friday 3rd February, Owls class once again opened the doors to their Little Library, when they invited in family members to share their favourite stories and the story books which they had been creating in class. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to share their love of reading. The Year R team would like to thank all of the families who came along to support the children. 

  

• Children's Hopes for the future part of art installation at God's House Tower in Southampton

  Mon 30 Jan 2023

  As part of our PSHE curriculum and our focus Christian value of 'hope', our key stage 2 pupils were offer the exciting opportunity, by artist Tracy Dovey, to contribute to an art installation called the Maypole of Dreams. The Maypole of Dreams reflects the future hopes and dreams of some of our pupils, alongside those of students at Eastleigh College. The hopes and dreams of children in 2023 are beautifully captured on 120 metres of ribbon as part of the installation.

  The installation is displayed in God's House Tower in Southampton and will be on show between 27th January-5th March, so why not pop along and see if your child can spot their hopes for the future captured for all to see.

  Unfortunately not all of the hopes and dreams made it on to the ribbons, those that didn't are displayed on the wall alongside the installation. The artist Tracy Dovey, would like to pass on her thanks to the children for sharing their hopes and dreams with her.

  

• Sporting success continues at School's Games indoor Kurling event

  Fri 27 Jan 2023

   

  Sports report written by Alfie and Charlie (year 6)

   

  On Wednesday the 18th of January, Two Key Stage 2 teams went to the New Age Kurling tournament at Wyvern St Edmund's school. We entered two teams into the tournament and there were 14 schools competing overall; Both teams played really well as a team and one of the teams managed to win all but two of their games.

   

  The Year 5/6 team progressed to the semi-finals against Morgan’s Vale, where we won 3-0. This put us in the final against Greentrees. Unfortunately, we lost by 1-point but won a second-place medal. The Year 3/4 team played well and took a few of their games to the final few stones but didn't manage to qualify for the finals.

   

  Both teams showed teamwork, resilience and honesty throughout the event. Thank you to Tom for training us in our PE lesson and Mr James for taking us to the event.

  

• Update on proposed strike action by NEU members

  Mon 23 Jan 2023

   

  Dear Parents / Carers,

   

  You will no doubt be aware of the ballot of National Education Union members, returning a majority outcome for taking strike action in their dispute with the Secretary of State for Education over making appropriate funds available to allow a fully funded increase in teachers pay at the rate of inflation (as measured by September 2022 RPI).

   

  The proposed dates for industrial action are:

   

  Wednesday 1^st February 2023

  Thursday 2^nd March 2023

  Wednesday 15^th March 2023

  Thursday 16^th March 2023

   

  This industrial action does not affect all teaching staff, only those that are members of the NEU, as other teaching and leadership unions have not yet met the threshold of their members to agree to industrial action. This position may well change as the Unions look to try to engage with the Education Secretary.

   

  Some members of the Whiteparish teaching staff, although not all, are members of the NEU union. At the time of writing this letter those who are members have indicated that they will not be engaging with strike action. This position may of course change and as their head teacher, I will offer them unequivocal support in which ever course of action they decide to take. I would ask you as a parent body, to also offer the teaching staff your full support. This is not a dispute with you or your children, in fact it is about valuing the work which the teaching staff do every single day to try and support your children along their educational journey. From the point of view of a school leader it is also about being able to secure funding which allows this work to be valued and to secure a level of provision moving forward which is deserved by all of the children in our care.

   

  If the unions remain in dispute with the Secretary of State for Education, this may result in a disruptive impact on your children and their education. We of course apologise for this but school staff are not 20% less valuable than they were 13 years ago and if staff are forced into the very difficult position of withdrawing their labour, then they do so after much consideration and in order to protect the standard of education service which we can provide to your children.

   

  To summarise, there currently will be no disruption to the education of pupils at Whiteparish on the days scheduled for industrial action and the school will be open as usual. All children will be expected to be in attendance. If this situation changes, I will of course communicate the change of circumstances with you immediately and I look forward to your continued support of the school and its staff.

   

  Kind Regards

   

  Jon James

  Head Teacher   

• The medals keep rolling in!

  Tue 06 Dec 2022

  On Wednesday and Thursday of last week school sports teams were out representing the school across 2 different events, both with great success. On Wednesday it was the turn of the High Fives Netball team to compete in the county finals. They ended up finishing level of points with the first placed school, losing out on points scored they ended up as silver medal winners. An amazing achievement. 

  On Thursday a year 4 and a year 5 team took part in an interschools Key Stage 2 Boccia tournament, imagine bowls with soft balls. This was the first time the school had competed at Boccia, both teams did really well in their group pool games with the Year 4 team making it into the semis and then the final, where the title had to be decided by a tie breaker. Again bringing home silver medals, another superb achievement.

  It is wonderful to see sports participation on the up across a range of different sports. Thank you to all the parents who helped with transport to and from these events. Go Team Whiteparish!

  

• Kites Class Perform at St Thomas Tree Festival

  Tue 06 Dec 2022

  Kites class kicked off the Christmas celebrations at Whiteparish, with their performance of 8 traditional carols as part of St Thomas Tree Festival. Not only did they wow visitors to St Thomas Church with their singing, they also displayed a Christmas tree linking to their historical enquiry unit, showing Christmas decorations over time. A huge well done to Kites class.