OPAL - Outdoor Play & Learning

At Great Waltham School, we are continually looking for ways to enhance play opportunities for our children through the OPAL programme. We are keen to establish an OPAL Parent Working Group and would love to hear from parents who can support us. Members of the group would be invited to attend a termly meeting, share ideas for developing outdoor play, and help us source resources and materials that could enrich our play provision. Whether you can offer time, expertise, contacts, or simply a fresh perspective, your involvement could make a real difference to the children's play experiences.

If you are interested in joining the OPAL Parent Working Group, please contact the school office. We look forward to working together to make play even better for all our children.

Currently, we are looking for any donations of plastic sledges, baby dolls, prams, dolls clothes, Barbies, paper, felt pens, crayons, pencils, trucks and vehicles. 

Kind Regards,

Mrs Liz Boyle

Attendance

W/C 5/1/26 - Overall School Attendance - 97.7%

Attendance Message from a Parent Governor

Hi everyone,

As a fellow parent and parent governor at Great Waltham Primary, I wanted to reach out about the attendance percentages we see on MCAS and school reports. On paper, a score like 80% or 90% sounds completely fine at first glance. But when we look at the actual days missed, the impact on missed school is huge. 

Here is what those percentages really mean:

• 90% Attendance: Means missing 19 days (nearly 4 weeks) of school a year. By Year 6, a steady 90% attendance adds up to 27 weeks—almost two full terms of lost learning.
• 80% Attendance: Means missing 38 days (nearly 8 weeks) of school a year. By Year 6, an average of 80% attendance stacks up to 53 weeks—nearly a year and a half of missed primary education and friendship time.

The current national average of Primary School Attendance is around 96%

Of course, illness is unavoidable, and please never feel pressured to send your child in if they are genuinely poorly. Your child's health and wellbeing always comes first.

However, if your family is facing any other hurdles getting through the school gates, please don't struggle in silence. Reach out to our wonderful school team -they are incredibly kind, supportive, and always ready to help.

A quick tip: Keep an eye out for INSET days tagged on to the end of school holidays. Booking trips around these dates can help you grab cheaper holiday deals without impacting your child’s attendance!

Warmly,

Monique Bearman

Awards

Aspire

Well done to our ASPIRE award winners for the last 2 weeks. 

Hot Chocolate Friday

Well done to all of the 'Hot Chocolate Friday' winners for the last 3 weeks.

News

Notices

Coats

The weather is very changeable at the moment, so please ensure that your child always has a coat in school. We try to get everyone outside whenever possible, even when there is light rain.

Lost Property

We have mountains of school uniform, coats and even some socks in the two lost property boxes located in the playground. Some items have been there since last year. If your child has lost anything, please take a look. Over half term, any unclaimed uniform will be donated to local clothing banks.

Another reminder to please name all of your child's belongings as this really helps us to return things to their owners. Info can be found here on ordering from the stikins website.

Water Bottles

For health and safety reasons, please do not send children to school with extra-large metal water bottles or water bottles with metal straws, such as those shown in the example picture. These bottles can leak and are easily knocked over. They may pose a risk of injury to children's teeth and mouths if they fall or are knocked whilst drinking. 

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Flu Immunisations

Please note that the flu immunisation programme will take place next week on Wednesday 21st October. Consent links have been sent directly to parents and carers by the NHS. Please check your e-mails for a link to the digital consent form.

Book Amnesty

Please have a look around at home for any school books, including those borrowed from our Recommended Reads collections. We would be grateful if these could be returned to school at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for helping us keep our library shelves stocked for all pupils.

Colchester United - Tag Rugby After School Club

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