Dear Parents and Carers It has been a great start to the term. Your children have returned to school with an abundance of enthusiasm and a mature attitude to learning. We couldn’t ask for more! We are starting the year with a topic called ‘On the Move.’ It is a science-based unit which begins with investigations into skeletons, joints and muscles. This links well with our initial literacy study of information texts and children will be using both books and the internet to conduct their research. The children will also have opportunities to develop skills in music and dance with an exciting project creating and performing their own skeleton dance to ‘Danse Macabre’ by SaintSaens. In D.T. they will be designing and making a skeleton with moving parts! After half term we will move on to an exciting history based unit studying the Tudors. Literacy lessons will continue to embrace the whole range of genres. There will be a focus on improving language and communication skills and particularly on speaking and listening. The children will be encouraged to expand their vocabulary and embrace a ’passion’ for new words. After our non-fiction study we will look at ‘Stories set in imaginary worlds’, and after half term ‘Stories set in an historical context’ linking nicely with our Tudor topic and then some lovely poetry leading up to Christmas. We will continue to have reading sessions daily at school but we ask you to listen to your child read at home as much as possible. It is vital that you discuss the books with your child and ensure they have understood and can comment on the texts. In numeracy there will be a strong focus on the four rules of number and a real drive to learn the times tables. The children will be improving their speed and confidence in mental arithmetic and later on in the term applying their mathematic skills to problem solving. Our School assembly themes this term will be based around ‘Truthfulness’ before half term and ‘Humility’ after. In RE, we will be studying Hinduism, what life is like for Hindus in the UK, Hindu stories and pilgrimage. For PSHE, we will continue to follow the Seal, rainbow scheme, which will start with considering ‘New beginnings’. We will then progress to ‘Getting on and falling out.’ Finally, games and PE! This term we will be covering dance in our topic, but will also have lessons developing skills in tennis. These will provide some excellent opportunities for performance and appraisal, both self and peer. The children will be encouraged to give considered and positive
comments to each other. After half term the children have gymnastics and tag rugby. Please can you ensure that your child has the correct PE kit, including trainers, in school at all times. Home learning will become an integral part of our school week. It is set to try and encourage the children to become independent learners, in preparation for the move to senior school. It will usually include spellings taken from the school scheme, multiplication tables and topic related work. Please use our class blog to keep up to date with class activities. There will be lots of suggestions and activities on there to support and extend your child’s learning. The children will be given home learning on a Tuesday and be asked to return it by the following Monday. In order to help your child’s progression, I would very much appreciate it if, as parents and guardians, you take an active interest and give your child support and guidance. Of course, I will always be happy to help anyone who is having difficulty and hope that home learning is seen as a challenge rather than a chore. Access to the internet will be provided for those who don’t have it at home. If at any time you have any concerns or need clarification on any aspect of your child’s school life, then please don’t hesitate to come see me at the end of the school day.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Rees & Mrs Cooper