Frozen!
School council elections
Our current school councillors held their final meeting recently as we prepare to elect our new school council.
Children from every class, including Reception, are encouraged to prepare a speech to present to their class as part of the election process. Our whole school homework before the election date will give children the chance to plan their speech.
Thank you to our existing school council who have been involved with many decisions and discussions throughout the year. Most recently they have selected books for our library and pupil prizes as rewards in class.
Homework in Reception
Now that we’re well into the Spring term, we’ll be sending homework every Friday. In addition to the new phonemes and tricky words the children are given to learn, your child will receive either practice handwriting sheets or sentences for your child to write independently.
Please check on the homework section of this website for practice sentences from next week.
Reception Class assembly
Don’t forget! Our first class assembly is on Thursday at 2.40pm.
See you there!
Phonics
Thank you to everyone who attended the phonics sessions last week. We hope you found them useful.
Following on from the feedback you gave, here are some captions and sentences your child can write at home. More will be added as we introduce new phonemes.
Phase 2 captions with tricky words: to, the, no, go
- socks on a mat
- an egg in an egg cup
- a hug and a kiss
- on top of the rock
- to the top of the hill
- get off the bus
- no lid on the pan
- pack a pen in a bag
- a doll in a cot
- sit back to back
Phase 3 sentences
- We can get the bus to the fish and chip shop.
- Gurdeep had a chat with his dad.
- Max and Vikram sail a wooden boat.
- Yasmin sits on a rock and looks for fish.
Phonics open mornings
We have three fun phonics sessions for parents this week. Don’t worry if you haven’t requested a session, just turn up on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday at 9am.
See you there!
Phonics mornings
Next week, we’ll be holding phonics sessions for parents on Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 of January at 9 am.
During these sessions you will have the opportunity to see how we teach tricky words and long vowel phonemes. We will explain words such as ‘digraph‘ and ‘polysyllabic‘ and give you ideas for supporting your child at home in their independent writing.
Please let us know which day you wish to attend.
We look forward to seeing you next week.
New SEAL theme – Good to be me
Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:
•Self-awareness – feeling good about yourself, taking risks.
•Managing Feelings – understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself –assertiveness skills, standing up for your views.
•Empathy
This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.
The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:
Building emotional resilience
Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.
Coping with anxiety and worrying
Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.
Calming down
Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.
Assertiveness
The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.
Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour
The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened /under stress.
‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for the theme of Good to be me.
Party Time
The party season has now officially started! Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 danced and jigged their way through the afternoon with a few games thrown in. It was a great way to finish off the term – looking forward to non-uniform day tomorrow with lots of fun things planned. Here are a few photos of the fun and games this afternoon.
Happy Christmas everyone.
Merry Christmas!
We’re reaching the end of your child’s first term in Reception. We’ve loved seeing all the children gain confidence and make progress in their learning…
- Well done, Sakina and Leo, for your terrific handwriting.
- We’re really happy to see the increased confidence of Ethan, Jasraj and Rayn.
- Well done, Pollyanna: we’ve enjoyed watching you design and create amazing models and drawings.
- We’ve all enjoyed Noah’s enthusiasm for learning.
- Well done, Henka and Kashif, for making wise choices.
- Will and Albie have kept us amused with their great sense of humour.
- Hifza, Musa, Jessica and Olivia have shown concern and care for their friends.
- We’re all impressed with Taha for eating healthier foods at lunchtime.
- Well done to Felix, Harris, Raima and Jemima for great learning in maths and to Phoebe, Liam, Emma, Emily and Sami for their progress in reading.
- Thank you, Safiya-Mishal and Yusayrah, for helping everyone in the class.
- Everyone has been impressed with Maya and Georgie for their great manners and Isabella for always trying her best.
Have a great holiday and happy new year from everyone in Reception!