This school year has brought many challenges. Just when we thought we were over the worst, COVID came back with a vengeance and ran riot through staff and children before and after Christmas. Supply teachers were in such high demand that they were impossible to find so our staffing was stretched to the limit for several weeks! Teaching is a challenging job at the best of times so I’m sure you can all imagine the effect that teaching a class of thirty with no support, and in some cases no breaks, had on staff! However, thanks to our staff’s incredible efforts, we were able to keep all classes from Reception to Year 6 open throughout this challenging period.

Losing two terms of school in 2020/21 obviously created significant gaps in children’s learning. We made the decision to ‘go back to go forward’, meaning teachers had to completely change their teaching sequences to ensure that the gaps were addressed. Whilst our end of year assessments may show that overall attainment is slightly down, our children have a solid foundation on which to build future progress and accelerate learning. However, Willington Primary is about so much more than just academic attainment – it is about making children feel good about themselves and helping them to maintain friendships, deal with conflict and develop resilience.

2022 has been a year of sporting success! Both our boys and girls football teams were unbeaten, winning their respective leagues in style! Well done to all the children involved and thank you to Mr Littlefair for being a fantastic coach.

Goodbye and Good Luck Mr Lawrence! Mr Lawrence is leaving his position of IT manager to pursue his love of gymnastic coaching. Mr Lawrence has looked after our IT systems for over 20 years and you will have seen many of the wonderful photos, videos and DVDs that he has produced. Just about everything we do in school involves technology and we would like to thank Mr Lawrence for all the hard work he has put into keeping our system running – as Mr Lawrence knows, a teacher without working technology is not a happy animal!!

On behalf of all staff at Willington Primary I would like to thank you for following the rules through the COVID periods and for your continued support of our school. We hope you all have a great summer and look forward to welcoming the children back into their new classes in September.

Goodbye and Good Luck Year 6

Our Year 6 class of 2021-2022 have certainly not had it easy over the last three years. They’ve had to cope with COVID lockdowns and the challenges of home learning, resulting in the children missing out on two terms of school – a huge amount!

When the government decided that SAT tests would start again this year we all gave a collective groan, thinking how unfair it was given the amount of face to face teaching this cohort had missed.

The year got off to a good start though, with Year 6 in the capable hands of Miss Jones and Mrs Jacob – who we affectionately term the ‘Dream Team’! However, Miss Jones went on maternity leave to have a beautiful baby boy called Leo! Although we were extremely happy for Miss Jones, it left a problem with Year 6! As we were unable to find a replacement of the required quality, the solution we put together was for me to teach the maths, Mrs Harker the English and Miss Babington the afternoons. Luckily, we still had Mrs Jacob as the glue that would hold everything together and ensure consistent routines across the week. Miss Babington will leave us in the summer. She has just completed her masters degree and we wish her every success in the future.

Year 6 have coped with this system extremely well and this is reflected in their amazing SAT results. In fact, our children’s results were actually above national figures for maths, writing and science! This shows how hard the children have worked and we are extremely proud of their efforts.

Year 6 are a class packed full of character and personality, who brighten up our corridors with their warmth and positive attitudes. They’re a class that have consistently impressed us with their resilience and determination. During SATs week, every pupil approached their tests with a fantastic attitude and gave their best – an approach which will serve them well in Secondary school.

Willington Primary School values feedback and opinions of our parents and carers. Therefore, we would like you to complete our parent summer survey by accessing the form sent to you on our text messaging service. Alternatively you can click here to access and submit the questionnaire! This is aimed at helping us improve and develop our school.

Your opinion matters to us.

Thank you

Good afternoon everyone.

As you will be aware there is a weather warning in place for next week. We will be taking every precaution to keep everyone safe in the heat. We are suspending uniform for the reminder of the term to allow children to come to school in cooler clothing such as shorts and t-shirts (Please no strapless or cropped tops for the girls). It is still essential that children wear sunscreen and caps. Most children have a water bottle in school, however, they are available to purchase from the office or bring your own. We will be limiting time outside and using shaded areas as much as possible. Windows and doors will be opened early to keep rooms as cool as possible and blinds will be closed in the heat of the day. Hopefully temperatures will not be too high in our area but we need to be prepared. Thank you.

This term we will be holding parent consultations by phone. On Wednesday 10th November, parents of children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will receive a link via text message/ email that enables them to book a time slot for a phone call with their child’s teacher on a designated day next week. When making your booking, please ensure you supply us with the phone number you would like us to contact you on – you can enter this in the ‘Comments’ section.

(A link for Parents of children in Reception, Year1 and Year 2 will be sent next week for appointments the week after.)

If you are not available on your child’s designated day due to work commitments, please contact your child’s teacher via Dojo to arrange an alternative date and time.

Please make a booking as this is a great way to discuss your child’s progress and ask any questions you may have.

If you do not have access to the internet or are unable to make a booking please contact the school office via telephone on 01388 746414 and we will be happy to help.

We look forward to speaking with you!

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