WDCE Monthly November

WDCE MONTHLY NOVEMBER

Last call for WDCE Lights Up! Dear parents and carers, November has been a very busy month at WDCE and we have lots to show for it. You can read about a few curriculum updates in this newsletter, sharing some of what we’ve been working on in English and Maths.

We want our reading, writing and maths curricula to be the very best they can be and there has been a huge team effort since September to achieve that – from subject leads to teachers to the children. We recently had a visit from Tara Dodson, co-author of our Phonics scheme ‘Essential Letters & Sounds’, who observed lessons and reviewed our teaching of early reading. The report was absolutely glowing, and they will be returning in January to record a case study showcasing our exemplary practice. A huge well done to the Reception and Key Stage 1 team and what a perfect example of our commitment to providing the very best education for every child. We’re currently finalising revisions to our PE and music curricula and I look forward to sharing in the next newsletter the new sports and instruments that will be available to everyone from 2026 onwards.

This Friday is our first ‘WDCE Lights Up!’ which will be a brilliant and memorable night for our school community. There is still time to get tickets but please book now to avoid disappointment – some time slots have already sold out! Tickets can be bought here: WDCE Lights Up! Tickets, Fri, Dec 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM | Eventbrite Hope to see you there!

Best wishes,

Mr Roberts Head of School

Thrive CE’s Spirituality Day hosted at WDCE From Miss Thompson – Year 5 Teacher & RE Lead

We were delighted to host Ethos Ambassadors from St Elisabeth’s, St Wilfrid’s, St Luke’s, and Didsbury CE for a special Spirituality Day here at West Didsbury CE. The event was all about building friendships and exploring what spirituality means in relation to God, creation, our neighbours, and ourselves.

The children took part in a range of creative activities, including time in our forest school where they tried hapazome (leaf printing). Every child was a credit to their school, showing enthusiasm and thoughtfulness throughout the day.

It was a wonderful success, and we look forward to more opportunities to collaborate with schools across our tru

Our new & improved spelling scheme From Mrs Sheehan – Assistant Headteacher & English Lead

We wanted to let you know about an exciting change to the way we teach spelling. From this term, we will be moving away from Spelling Shed and adopting a new scheme called Essential Spelling and Word Knowledge in Years 3 - 6.

This programme is fully aligned with the National Curriculum and is designed to help children become confident, lifelong spellers. Unlike traditional approaches that rely heavily on memorising weekly word lists, Essential Spelling focuses on word knowledge - teaching children about spelling rules, word origins, and strategies they can apply to unfamiliar words.

Why this change benefits your child: •

Deeper understanding: Children learn how and why words are spelled a certain way.

•

Practical strategies: Pupils develop skills to tackle new words independently, not just recall lists.

•

Each week, the children will take home a morpheme grid which they will use to build words using prefixes and suffixes.

If you are able to support your child at home using the morpheme grid, it would be greatly appreciated. The grid helps children see how words are built from root morphemes, prefixes, and suffixes, giving them strategies to tackle new words with confidence.

We believe this shift will give our pupils stronger foundations in spelling and greater confidence in their writing. Thank you for your continued support as we make this positive change.

Maths journalling, representations & fluency From Miss Laffey – Assistant Headteacher & Maths Lead

We have done some amazing work on our Maths journals this term! We have been looking at how bar models can help us better understand problems and the children across the school have been drawing their own and explaining what they represent.

We have also been exploring our fluency in maths and Reception to Year 5 are now all using Mastering Number to support their fluency, with Year 6 continuing to do regular arithmetic practice. The programme has been designed to ensure that all children are able to develop a fluency and flexibility with number that we can describe as 'good number sense' The children have worked incredibly hard in their maths lessons, and I am so proud of how well the journals show the fantastic learning going on.

Journals in Year 4 & Year 2

Forest School

From Mrs Porteous

Our Autumn term has been very busy in Forest School as we approach the colder, darker weeks of the year.

We have been working hard to utilise the wood chopped down beside the tram tracks, using tools to prepare it for firewood in our log store, new seating, den building sticks, for use in crafts and whittling - which Year 5 showed advancing skills in making some impressive mushrooms. We have also made various games with Year 6 (bows & arrows, cornhole, obstacle courses and Kubb) and had a lovely, warming fire with some apple crumble custard! This week our lovely old willow tree unfortunately had to be chopped down for safety reasons but we will nevertheless be using this too by propagating the branches to make new fences & tunnels and lots of natural resources for our Forest School area. Nothing goes to waste!

A new climbing frame for EYFS! From Mrs Thompson – EYFS Lead & Reception Teacher

The reception children were delighted to watch the construction of the new climbing frame. This will support the children's physical development which will enable them to build strength in both fine and gross motor control. This has huge benefits to the outcomes of the children across the curriculum.

The climbing frame is an open-ended piece which allows for creative play and a variety of physical challenges. We have already heard children creating their own adventures on the 'iceberg', 'pirate ship', 'mountain' and 'house'. This creative play combined with the physical challenge means that this piece of equipment provides a valuable asset to support the children's learning.

Thank you to the PTA who have provided us with this fabulous resource.

Kindness first, effort always.

Our behaviour motto – Kindness First, Effort Always – is always lived out in classrooms, corridors and the playgrounds. Here are some extra examples of kindness and effort to celebrate:

Violet, Olivia & Lilah, along with their siblings, have made a phenomenal effort raising money for Francis House. From running street stalls and bake sales from the summer all the way through to November, they have helped to raise a substantial amount of money which will be put to great use at Francis House.

A huge well done and thank you to the girls in 5LT. What a perfect example of kindness first…

…and for effort always, Maebh’s continued effort, dedication and perseverance have resulted in her becoming the Champion of the British Isles for squash in the Girls U9. What a massive achievement and so well deserved. Well done Maebh!!

Diary dates

Tuesday 2nd December: Christmas panto (in hall) Thursday 4th December: Rock Steady Concert (10am) Friday 5th December: Non-uniform day & cake donations for the lights show Friday 5th December: Strings concert (8.15am) Friday 5th December: #WestDidsburyLightsUp PTA Christmas event (5pm – 8pm) Tuesday 9th December: RKT, 1JG, 2LS Nativity (9.15am) Tuesday 9th December: Rattle & Roll performance (4pm) Wednesday 10th December: ROJ, 1MR, 2EC Nativity (9.15am) Wednesday 10th December: Christmas Dinner day Thursday 11th December: Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children (uniform and Christmas jumper) Thursday 11th December: RKT, 1JG, 2LS Nativity (9.15am) Friday 12th December: ROJ, 1MR, 2EC Nativity (9.15am) Monday 15th December: Reception & Year 1 Christmas Party day Monday 15th December: Years 4 & 6 Christmas Concert at Emmanuel Church (doors open 6.15pm) Tuesday 16th December: Years 2 & 3 Christmas Party day Tuesday 16th December: Years 3 & 5 Christmas Concert at St. Paul’s Church Withington (6.15pm) Wednesday 17th December: Years 4 & 5 Christmas Party day Thursday 18th December: Year 6 Christmas Party day Thursday 18th December: Rattle & Roll performance (4pm) Friday 19th December: School closes.