Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2026–2027 academic year! It has been lovely to see all the children again this year and to hear about all of the exciting things they did during the summer break. I would like to extend a warm welcome to those families that are joining our school community for the first time as well.

We have spent the start of this year welcoming the children back whilst also reminding them of our behaviour expectations and positive routines. This really does lay the foundations for great learning to take place, and I would like to thank all of the staff in the school for taking the time to embed the values we hope to see every day.

Our school values guide us in creating a safe, inclusive, and inspiring environment where every child can thrive:

• Respect: treating others with kindness and consideration

• Responsibility: taking ownership of our choices and learning

• Integrity: being honest and doing what’s right

• Resilience: staying strong and positive through challenges

• Tolerance: embracing differences and showing understanding

• Excellence: striving to be the best we can be in all we do

Attendance

At the start of this academic year, our attendance is currently at 97% for the whole school, which represents a fantastic start to the year! Thank you to all our families for your hard work at the start of this year and for ensuring that your children are in school each day.

High attendance not only supports academic progress, but it also helps children to build friendships, develop routines, and feel a sense of belonging within our school.

We’re excited for a fantastic year of learning, achievement, and fun! Please remember, we are always here to support you and your child - our doors are always open.

Staffing Update

I would like to share the news with our school community that Mrs Hartley-Criddle will be leaving us at Christmas this year. It is a bittersweet moment for all of us as we will be incredibly sad to see Mrs Hartley-Criddle leave, but we are also excited about the new opportunities that wait ahead of her.

Mrs Hartley-Criddle has been a part of the Wellesley Park team for many years now and she has a wealth of knowledge around the children and families in our school community. She has worked tirelessly during her time here to ensure that the correct support has been in place for our students to help them grow, develop, and thrive. Even though we will all be sad to see Mrs Hartley-Criddle leave, we really do wish her all the best for the future.

We currently have an advertisement out for a SENDCo in the hopes that we can appoint someone to this position ready to start in January. This should also give Mrs Hartley-Criddle plenty of time to do an appropriate handover and go through the roles and responsibilities that come with the position of SENDCo.

Wishing you a lovely weekend and thank you for your continued support.

With best wishes,

Mr Houton

Head of School

Attendance - by class from 07/09 - 25/09

Peake: 97.88%

Earhart: 99.63%

Norgay: 98.8%

Henson: 96.75%

Attenborough: 98.44%

Kingsley: 94.83%

Jemison: 95.98%

Is my child too ill to attend school?

We understand how difficult it can be to decide whether your child is well enough to attend school. To support families, we’re sharing the NHS’s helpful guidance on this topic.

Secondary School applications for September 2027

The online portal for applications for children to start secondary school in September 2027, or transfer to Upper school, is now OPEN. The closing date is 31 October 2026.

The Secondary School Admissions Guide is now live on Somerset Council’s website https://www.somerset.gov.uk/children-families-and-education/applying-for-school/secondary-admissions-guide/.

Somerset Council has asked us to share the following information with you:

If your child is due to transfer to secondary school next September please be aware that places in Taunton and Wellington are limited due to a high birth rate. It is really important that you apply on time (deadline 31st October 2026) and choose 3 preferences of school. We also strongly recommend you include your catchment school as one of your preferences.

If you do not include your catchment school among your preferences and are refused your preferred schools, we cannot guarantee your child a place in the local area. Your child may then be offered a place at a school further away with no entitlement to travel assistance.

Secondary School Open Mornings

Working Together for a Safe School Environment

As part of our ongoing commitment to the safety and wellbeing of everyone at Wellesley Park Primary School, we would like to remind families of a few important expectations regarding access to the school site and consideration for our local community.

🚗 Vehicles on the School Site

For the safety of our pupils, staff and visitors, parents and carers should not drive onto the school site at any time unless they have received prior permission from the school. This includes both drop-off and collection times.

🏡 Respecting Our Neighbours

We are fortunate to be part of a supportive local community and ask all families to help us maintain positive relationships with our neighbours by:

Not turning vehicles around in residents' driveways.
Avoiding blocking driveways, access points or pavements when parking.
Driving carefully and courteously on surrounding roads.
Being mindful of noise levels, particularly during busy arrival and departure times.

A little consideration goes a long way and helps us remain good neighbours while creating a positive environment for everyone.

🚲 Cycling and Scooters

We are delighted that many pupils choose active ways to travel to school. To help keep everyone safe, we ask that children and adults:

Dismount from bicycles and scooters before reaching the school gates.
Wheel bicycles and scooters through the school grounds rather than riding them.

These simple measures help reduce the risk of accidents and ensure pedestrians can move around the site safely.

🛝 Playground Equipment

As we move into the autumn and winter months, changing weather conditions can make outdoor surfaces and playground equipment slippery, particularly in the mornings and after periods of rain.

To help prevent accidents and injuries, we ask that children do not use the playground equipment before or after school. The equipment is supervised during the school day and is only available for use at designated times.

In addition, footballs and other balls should not be used on the playground before or after school. This helps to keep pathways clear, reduce the risk of accidents, and ensure a safe environment for everyone arriving at and leaving school.

🤝 Thank You

By working together and reinforcing these messages at home, we can help ensure that our school remains a safe, welcoming and enjoyable place for all children, families and staff.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support. It is greatly appreciated.

Important dates

Parents evening will be taking place on Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st October 2026 - appointments are now available to book on Arbor.
The Somerset School Aged Immunisation Nursing Team will be in school on Wednesday 21st October 2026 to administer the nasal flu vaccine. Please ensure you have completed the decision form either give or decline consent.
Tempest Photography will be in school on Thursday 22nd October to take individual and sibling group portraits of children. There will also be an opportunity to have your child/ren’s photograph taken with a younger sibling who is not currently at our primary school if you would like to. Further information will be sent out shortly.

You can see all of our upcoming events on our Diary Dates.

Nursery

The children in Nursery have had a fantastic start to the term, exploring nursery rhymes and the changing season of autumn through a range of fun, hands-on activities. The children enjoyed singing favourite rhymes, creating artwork inspired by them, and developing their fine motor skills through cutting, sticking, and play dough activities.

Autumn-themed learning included creating colourful seasonal paintings and exploring our popular farm shop role-play area, where children enjoyed shopping for fruit and vegetables and practising their scanning and payment skills. We also learned about the importance of brushing our teeth through a fun interactive activity.

Outdoor learning has been a highlight, with the children making the most of the changing weather in the mud kitchen and muddy play areas, mixing, pouring, digging, and exploring together. It has been wonderful to see the children so engaged, confident, and enthusiastic in their learning.

Reception - Peake

The Reception children have settled beautifully into school. They have been doing lots of activities that support their fine motor development, such as tweezing pom poms at the ‘Funky Fingers’ table and playing with pegboards and mosaic tiles. We have started daily Dough Disco which has proven to be very popular and is great for hand eye co-ordination as well as building strength and control in the fingers, hands, arms and shoulders. The children were very excited to have their first PE lesson and moved around the playground with lots of energy! They are learning the routines, such as, getting ready for snack time and going into the hall for lunch time.

We have been talking a lot about the Zones of Regulation and finding out which colours represent the different emotions. We have read lots of stories about feelings and how to help move our emotions to happy ones. The children have learnt different strategies to cope with their emotions, such as breathing in and out while tracing around the outline of their hand. They know to go to our Calm Corner if they need to regulate their emotions.

We are looking at the children’s names every day and practising recognising and writing them. The children are also enjoying Phonics lessons and have been doing daily oral blending where they try to blend sounds they hear together, e.g. c-a-t....’cat’ and ‘d-u-ck ...’duck’. We have learnt several sounds and will soon be blending them to read words!

Year 1 - Earhart

We have had a fantastic start to Year 1, with lots of exciting learning already taking place! The children have adapted brilliantly to their new routines and expectations and have been working incredibly hard every day. I am so proud of how well they have settled into life in Year 1.

In English, we have been exploring the traditional tale The Three Little Pigs. The children have been practising writing complete sentences and learning to identify nouns and adjectives. Over the coming weeks, we will continue using these skills to describe characters before putting our own creative spin on the story by inventing new characters and retelling the tale in different ways. We have already heard some wonderfully imaginative ideas!

In Maths, our focus has been place value within 10. The children have been learning to compare quantities, represent numbers in both digits and words, and find one more and one less than a given number. These important foundations are helping to strengthen their understanding of number and prepare them for future learning with larger numbers.

Our Science learning this term is all about materials. So far, we have been identifying a range of materials, learning the difference between an object and the material it is made from, and discussing common materials such as wood, metal, plastic and fabric. The children have enjoyed investigating these through practical activities and are developing excellent observation skills. Next, we will begin exploring the different properties of materials as we work towards a fun investigation that may have a familiar link to The Three Little Pigs!

In Computing, we have been learning about technology and how it helps us in our everyday lives. The children were surprised to discover that technology is not just computers and tablets, but includes many human-made objects that make tasks easier, such as pencil sharpeners and other everyday tools.

In Art, we have been learning about colour. We started by identifying the primary colours and understanding that they cannot be created by mixing other colours together. We then experimented with colour mixing to create secondary colours and used our knowledge to make colourful colour wheels.

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the half term brings and watching the children continue to grow in confidence and independence. There is still plenty of exciting learning ahead before a well-earned break for everyone!

Year 2 - Norgay

We have had a fantastic start to the school year, and the children have settled exceptionally well into the routines and expectations of Year 2. It has been wonderful to see how quickly they have adapted, organised themselves independently, following our silent signals, and rising to the high expectations of the classroom.

Our Guided Reading sessions have got off to a great start. The children have been practising their VIPERS comprehension skills while exploring a range of engaging texts, including Through the Eyes of Me, where they have learned about the experiences of an autistic child, and Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs.

In English, we are using Jack and the Beanstalk as part of our Talk for Writing unit, focusing on suspense and setting descriptions. The children have particularly enjoyed developing their writing by using sentences of three, expanded noun phrases, and similes to make their work more descriptive and engaging.

In Maths, the children have been learning to understand two-digit numbers.

In History, we have begun learning about the monarchy. The children have been introduced to Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria and are beginning to understand their significance in British history.

In Music, the children have been enjoying learning Hands, Feet, Heart. They have been developing their singing skills and are already able to play four notes on the glockenspiel. to accompany it.

In Computing, we have started our learning about Information Technology and are exploring how technology is used in everyday life.

I am currently in the process of selecting our Nativity play, so please watch this space for performance dates and further information. Christmas will be here before we know it!

Thank you for your continued support.

Year 3 - Henson

Year 3 Henson Class have had a wonderful start to the new school year! The children have settled in well and are already showing lots of enthusiasm for their learning. In English, we’ve been practising a range of grammar skills, including expanded noun phrases, adverbs, similes and speech. We are using these techniques to help us write our own Defeat the Monster stories. The children also brought the story to life by acting out different scenes. They had great fun performing to the rest of the class and showed real creativity. In Maths, we’ve focused on understanding Place Value up to 1000.

Our first Guided Reading book 'Stone Age Boy' has been very popular and links closely with our History topic on the Stone Age. The children have enjoyed learning about life in prehistoric times and making connections across the curriculum.

In Art, the class created fantastic Stone Age-inspired pictures using chalk and pastels to mimic cave paintings. These are now on display in the corridor for everyone to enjoy. In Science, we’ve been investigating friction by testing how different surfaces affect movement. The children loved the hands-on experiments and made some excellent observations. Henson class have enjoyed their stop animation work in computing and practised greetings in French.

It’s been a busy and exciting start to the term - well done year 3!

Year 4 - Attenborough

We have had a fantastic start to year 4 and Attenborough class. The children have settled in very quickly and are showing us their excitement for learning.

We have loved starting our class book of The Twits. The children are thoroughly enjoying discovering what Mr and Mrs Twit have been getting up to each day and we have had some brilliant ideas about ways they can trick one another next.

Our classroom was transformed into a beautiful ball, with party ribbons, a glitter ball and decorations for the start of our Cinderella Rags to Riches unit in English. We have been using different techniques to write detailed descriptions for our characters and settings. The children have really impressed us with their exciting vocabulary and ideas.

In our wider curriculum lessons we have been diving into Ancient Greece and learning all about life during that time. We have studied different city-states and have discovered why the Ancient Greeks are still relevant today. In Science, the children have been learning about their teeth and have discovered the different functions of the teeth in our mouths.

We are very much looking forward to a busy term in Year 4.

Year 5 - Kingsley

We have a had an amazing start to our year in Kingsley class. All the children have been so kind, polite and eager to start their learning journey into Year 5.

In Maths, we have been looking at place value, the children have really engaged with this topic. Working together to solve comprehensive word problems, top making their own problems for each other to solve.

In English we have been writing our own suspense warning tale narrative. The children went from learning and acting through a stimulus story, to drafting and editing their own version. Our next topic we will be combining our science unit and creating a persuasive argument as to why we need to protect our habitats.

Finally, in our Ancient Civilisation Unit, we will soon begin to design our own civilisation that can withstand a natural disaster. The children will use recyclable resources to create their structures which then need to try and survive a tornado!

It has been an incredible start to our year, and we look forward to the year ahead!

Year 6 - Jemison

Year 6 have made a fantastic start to the new term and have settled quickly into the routines and expectations of upper Key Stage 2. It has been wonderful to see such positive attitudes towards learning and a real enthusiasm across all areas of the curriculum.

This term, the children have started their swimming lessons and have already shown great determination and resilience in the pool. We were also pleased to welcome visitors from Court Fields School, who introduced themselves to the children and shared information about life at secondary school. This provided an exciting opportunity for the children to begin thinking about the next stage of their education. Reminder – secondary school applications are now open!

In class, the children have made an excellent start using LBQ, both in school and at home. Thank you for your support with this. Please continue to encourage your child to complete their homework regularly and remember that children should be reading at least four times each week and recording this in their reading records.

In English, we have begun our work on Hansel and Gretel. The children have been exploring how authors create tension and suspense, using techniques such as personification, hiding the threat from the reader and slowing the action using a sentence of three. We have been very impressed by the quality of vocabulary and writing already being produced.

In Maths, we have reviewed place value to secure understanding of large numbers and are now moving on to the four operations. The children have worked hard to apply their knowledge accurately and explain their mathematical thinking.

Our wider curriculum has also got off to a strong start. In History, we are learning about the Industrial Revolution and considering how this period changed Britain. In Science, we have begun our work on the circulatory system, exploring how the heart, blood and blood vessels work together to keep our bodies healthy.

We are looking forward to another busy and successful term ahead!