WDCE MONTHLY OCTOBER
Belonging, Believing, Becoming
Our last day of term began with our Harvest Festival led brilliantly by Year 3. Through role playing, singing, poetry and storytelling, they captured all the important messages from Harvest from gratitude to hardworking farmers, thankfulness for the food that ends up on our shelves and care for the world around us. We think about what we’re thankful for every day at WDCE and Year 3 reminded us that Harvest is not just a time to be thankful but a chance to share what we have with those around us. Year 3 shared how much we have raised as a community, both in food donations supporting Perry’s Foodbank and for the funds raised for Just One Tree, who plant 1 tree for every £1 raised. 3 car-fulls of food were taken to the foodbank and we’ve raised £404 for Just One Tree in this Harvest alone. That means to date we’ve planted over 900 trees – an amazing effort that will have impact for years to come. Thank you to Rev. Sarah for sharing her reflection and prayer, to Mrs Sheehan and Miss Deane for putting so much work into the service and to every child in Year 3 for their confident performance and for learning their lines, poems and songs so well.
Belonging, Believing, Becoming
Last year, we began our ‘Family Festivals’ and on Friday 3rd November, we’ll be celebrating Diwali in the school hall from 3.15. All of the details are here but please save the date if you can. It would be great to see families of all faiths and none share in the celebration and enjoy food and crafts together.
Eco-committee news
From Mrs Porteous (our Eco-Committee co-ordinator) Our Eco Group had their first half termly meeting to welcome the new Y1 & Y2 members and discuss their plans for the year ahead. After being awarded the Green Flag Award (with distinction) again just before the Summer, we have agreed on our 2026-27 Eco Schools topics - Marine, Waste & Healthy Living. We are already off to a flying start raising almost £400 for Just One Tree on non-uniform day, helping Y3 with their Harvest foodbank collections and organising meetings with adults in school & local groups to take part in activities such as litter picks, hosting workshops and making a difference within our community. Our work towards biodiversity continues as always within our weekly Forest School sessions with water collectors and wildlife habitats & feeders being maintained each week amongst many other jobs! We are also in the process of obtaining resources so we are able to become a recycling point for harder to recycle items - watch this space!
Governing Body updates From Felicity Bradley, Chair of Governors
The Governing Body had its first full meeting of the academic year on Tuesday, which included excellent reports on a first half term at West Didsbury. ‘Belonging’, attendance, behaviour, approaches to learning, and culture within the school continue to be impressive. Thank you, as parents/carers, for all you do to ensure your children engage in school, and thank you to all the staff for their continued hard work and dedication. In Governing Body meetings, we analyse last year's outcomes and data. It was fantastic to see such positive results across all key stages, well above national averages. In particular, our maths and science achievements in Key Stage 2 were ranked the first and second highest amongst all schools in Manchester. Governors will continue to visit the school throughout this term and look forward to seeing and monitoring the impact of the school's development priorities across all areas of school life for all its pupils. The Governors need your help: Thrive CE Trustees are seeking to appoint two new Governors for West Didsbury. Ideally, one of these appointments would be someone who has experience in SEND and Inclusion. To ensure the composition of the Board is balanced, strategic, and broad, we are not looking to appoint someone who is currently a parent / carer at West Didsbury. However, we do require your help in signposting and sharing our Governor vacancy. Please share this within your professional and local communities. No previous experience of governance is required, just a commitment to our values and a willingness to contribute by providing strategic challenge and oversight. Anyone interested is welcome to email the Chair of Governors, Felicity Bradley directly chair@thrive-wdce.com for more information.
Year 6 at Condover Hall Year 6 had a fantastic week on their residential trip to Condover Hall, throwing themselves into every challenge from abseiling, high ropes, and the trapeze to fencing, circus skills, and a muddy blindfolded sensory trail through the woods. The days were packed with outdoor adventures and lots of laughs (including canoeing where staff and pupils thoroughly drenched one another) while the evenings were just as fun, featuring a movie night in the Tudor hall and talent show performances around the campfire. The children showed brilliant independence and teamwork throughout the week and here are some pictures highlighting some of the activities from the week.
As you can see, a lot of these activities will have taken the children out of their comfort zones but the bravery they all showed will give them greater confidence and memories that will last them for life. It’s a very big undertaking for the staff so a huge thank you to Miss Laffey, Miss Price, Mr Briggs, Mrs Webster and Mrs Letven for providing so much time, care and effort throughout the week and for all the hard work that went into planning such a successful trip.