Merry Christmas!
Dear parents and carers,
There’s a lot to reflect on at the end of our first term. Hopefully most of you have been able to attend one of our Christmas productions over the last two weeks: either a nativity or a carol concert. I hope you’ll agree that the children and staff excelled themselves in putting these together. A lot of time and effort go into these performances and it all pays off when we see (and hear) how confident and talented the children are. It’s not typical of children this age to be able to stand in front of a packed room and read, act, sing or dance with such ease and skill and I think it says a lot about the nurturing and encouraging environment at West Didsbury CE. When I watch these performances and look at the academic improvements that we’re seeing across the school, I’m reminded of what a brilliant team we’re part of. The staff and, most importantly, your children, have worked tirelessly this term and the progress we see on all fronts – academically, personally, socially and emotionally – is something we should all be proud of.
We’ve seen our new motto – Kindness First, Effort Always – in abundance this term and I want to end by thanking everyone again for their efforts in making this term so successful. To the staff who have all gone above and beyond in implementing changes and providing such high-quality teaching and support to the children, to our families for being so engaged and supportive and particularly our PTA who go above and beyond in helping better our school, and to all the children for their efforts, their determination and their positive attitudes. It makes a huge difference.
However you’re spending the next couple of weeks, I hope you get some peace and quality time with your loved ones. Have a very merry Christmas!
Best wishes,
Mr Roberts Head of School
Improvements to our reading curriculum
Reading outcomes have always been strong at WDCE but we’re strengthening our focus and our curriculum further Reading is the foundation for all learning and if we can ignite a love of reading at this age, your children will be learners for life.
In October, we introduced Reading Plus in Key Stage 2 to complement the whole class chapter book lessons which still take place three times per week. Since using Reading Plus, the children in Years 3 to 6 are reading (on average) an additional 27 words per minute. These fluency gains are significant and will accelerate progress not just in reading but across the curriculum.
In Reception, guided reading will now take place daily and the texts will reinforce the sounds that are being learned in phonics. 3 lessons per week will be focussed on the same text which will help develop fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Twice per week, the children will listen to a story read aloud and every child will engage in a structured discussion on the book.
In Key Stage 1 from January, we are moving to whole class reading which means more time will be spent on the direct teaching of reading and the children will be exposed to a greater number of high-quality texts. Thank you to Mrs Sheehan and Miss Carter for refining this whole class approach and for sourcing such a highquality list of texts.
Improvements to our reading curriculum
Below is the rationale behind the new Key Stage 1 reading curriculum which now mirrors the provision which has provided such great results in Key Stage 2. Mrs Sheehan writes the following:
Our KS1 guided reading curriculum is designed to ignite a lifelong love of reading by immersing children in a rich blend of children’s classics and contemporary texts. Through carefully chosen stories, poetry, and nonfiction, we aim to:
• Inspire curiosity and imagination with beloved classics like Peace at Last, Funnybones, Dogger, The Jolly Postman, The Snowman and The Tiger Who Came to Tea.
• Encourage empathy and understanding through authentic characters and meaningful themes with picture books like Julien is a Mermaid, The Day You Begin, Ruby's Worries and Coming to England.
• Build knowledge and understanding with engaging non-fiction linked to science, history, and the wider world.
• Develop key reading skills- retrieval, inference, sequencing, vocabulary, and discussion-through purposeful, enjoyable activities.
• Foster confidence and joy in reading by creating meaningful connections between texts and children’s own experiences. Children should see themselves reflected in what they read.
Our ultimate goal is for every child to leave KS1 as a motivated, thoughtful reader who sees books as windows to new ideas, cultures, and adventures and sees themselves and their families reflected in the stories they read and are shared with them.
We hope you notice a greater desire, ability and enjoyment in reading and we’re excited to share a number of events planned throughout 2026 to ignite that love of reading in every child.
PE & Outdoor Ed
Since September, a lot of work has gone into redesigning our PE curriculum. We want to offer a greater variety of sports in the hope of discovering new talents and interests whilst providing a great level of inclusion, challenge and engagement, particularly further up the school.
We’ll be maintaining key elements of our curriculum such as the heavy focus on gross motor skills and coordination in the earlier years before introducing games and tactics later on in the school. Currently in KS2, we teach five sports – football, hockey, basketball, tennis and cricket – repeatedly each year with the aim of the children learning each sport in depth and furthering their skills each year.
We can still ensure that skill progression by teaching each type of sport – invasion games, target games, net, wall, striking and fielding – in the same level of depth but by broadening the number of sports on offer, we can provide greater variety, engagement and the children can apply their skills in a wider variety of games.
In the new year, the children will now be taught how to play football, hockey, netball, dodgeball, tennis, cricket, golf, tchoukball, Danish Longball as well as athletics, gymnastics, dance and swimming. These will all be taught in depth and they fit into a cohesive, progressive curriculum from Reception to Year 6. In addition, outdoor activities such as orienteering will focus more prominently as well as health & wellbeing related activities.
We hope this wider offer provides more engagement, challenge and enthusiasm for health-related activities, fitness and competitive sport. Thank you to Mr Briggs and Jess (PSP) for putting so much time into creating this new overview, and to Dean Khaled, Managing Director of Kickstart PE, who has reviewed our current provision and guided us in selecting these new sports and how best to teach them.
We hope you start to hear positive reviews at home throughout 2026!
Lunches & family meal days
Family meal days will return on Thursdays from the second week back. Please find below a list of dates for classes in Years 3 & 4. Dates will be arranged for Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 in the next half term.
Family meals are served at 12pm.
Family meal days – Spring 1
Thursday 15th January 4BT
Thursday 22nd January 4CS
Thursday 29th January 3ED
Thursday 5th February 3KS
I know there’s been some unhappiness resulting from stricter guidelines on packed lunches and I do sympathise with those of you who regard this as an overreach. We are heavily guided by NHS and DfE guidance on packed lunches which can be found here and the reason for bringing in these restrictions when we did was due to the increases in sweets, chocolate and sugary cakes we were seeing in packed lunches. These were also being shared out amongst friends in the lunch hall. As a school, we should do as much as we can to promote healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating, and I hope you can support us in our efforts to provide healthier meals for every child in school.
Dolce have now agreed to remove cake from their menu and for children on school meals, fruit and healthy yoghurt will be provided on a daily basis.
Please contact me if you have any further questions regarding school meals and I’m more than happy to answer any remaining questions or explain our decisions in more detail.
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:
Finally, our team of Year 5 and 6 boys took part in a futsal competition earlier this month competing against lots of local schools.
Not only did they win the tournament, they won every game comfortably without conceding a single goal. A great achievement boys!
A huge well done to Eloise and Grace who have raised an impressive £46.71 for Francis House.
They held a stall of cakes and toys on their street and advertised it with posters and a video to the neighbours.
This has also helped Eloise gain her "Charities" badge at Brownies.
A great example of ‘Kindness First, Effort Always’ and we’re very proud of you both!
Diary dates
Date Event
05.01.26
14.01.26
School opens for children
Early maths meeting 6 – 6.30pm
Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 parents
15.01.26 Multiplication Times Tables Check & Shakespeare productions meeting 6 – 6.30pm
Year 4 parents
16.01.26 Poetry awards
22.01.26
Phonics meeting 6 – 6.30pm
Reception & Year 1 parents
23.01.26 1MR class worship – 8.50am
26.01.26 EYFS – Parents given the opportunity to look at books 8.30
27.01.26
ELS case study filming day
29.01.26 Year 1 / Year 4 / Year 6
Parents given the opportunity to look at books 8.30
30.01.26 Year 2 / Year 3 / Year 5
Parents given the opportunity to look at books 8.30
05.02.26 Year 6 Parents SATs Meeting 6 – 6.30pm
Year 6 parents
13.02.26 3ED class worship – 8.50am
13.02.26
School closes for children
