Brize Norton Primary School
Inspiring Learning for Life
Station Road
Brize Norton
Oxon OX18 3PL
01993 842488
Headteacher: Mrs A Fairhurst
Dear Parents,
Nightingales Class Information Update – January 2018
Welcome back to Nightingales class, we hope you and your children now feel settled in school. All children understand the established rules and routines of our class, which enables us, with your support, to continue to run smoothly.
The purpose of this letter is to communicate key points regarding this term.
- Our whole school value for this half term is Integrity, with Fairness being our value for next half term; values are explored through our assemblies and celebrated at the end of the week as well as being the focus of PSHE lessons.
- In maths we shall continue to consolidate number knowledge, explore positional vocabulary and understanding of time as well as learning about 3d shapes.
- In Science we will be learning about animals and their habitats as well as continuing to think about the changing seasons and weather.
- In Geography we will be looking at features of our local environment, linked in with the village Neighbourhood Plan. We will be asking children to bring in a photograph of their house to make models (using 3d shapes) to create our own village road.
- In RE we will be thinking about how people celebrate the New Year, including learning about Chinese New Year.
- In computing we will complete our unit on E-safety before moving on to using beebots to begin to understand coding, this will also link to positional vocabulary in maths.
- Where possible, in literacy, I try to make links with other topic areas; this term I plan to use the Percy the Park Keeper stories by Nick Butterworth to link with both looking at our local area and learning about animal habitats. Year 1 children will be learning how to use suffixes and prefixes (ed, ing, er, est,un).
Trips
We are hoping to take the children to Cotswold Wildlife Park next half term as part of our topic. This term we will be exploring the local community and may go on the bus to Carterton to visit an estate agents.
Early Morning Activities
The school gates are opened at 8.30, with school opening at 8.40. Please wait at the gate for the door to be opened; children are not permitted to play in the garden before (or after) school. Children are asked to register themselves by matching their picture and namethenput their own things away in the correct places (book bags, snacks, water bottles). Parents of Foundation children are welcome to come into the classroom to settle your child; I expect Year 1 children to now say goodbye to their parents at the door and come into the classroom independently. Children are familiar with the routine of settling to their tables to complete morning book activities, the chimes are rung at 8.50; for the children this signals the start to their school day and is their time to say goodbye to any parents still in the classroom. We complete the registers before beginning lessons at 9 o’clock.
Snack Time
Children in Foundation and Key Stage 1 receive free fruit each day for the afternoon snack time. In addition we ask that parents send in a piece of fruit or vegetables only for morning snack (homous or yogurts are not permitted). If you have registered your child for milk this will be provided in the morning. Please provide your child with a named bottle of water (not juice or squash); these will be sent home daily to be washed and refilled.
Lunches
Children in Foundation and Key Stage 1 are provided with a free school meal. If you choose your child may bring in a packed lunch from home as an alternative to this. Children will be asked during morning register if they require a school dinner for that day or if they have a packed lunch; school dinners do not need to be ordered in advance. If your child brings a packed lunch please note they are not permitted chocolate bars, sweets or fizzy drinks in school, in line with our Whole School Food Policy.
Cooking
Cooking is a fun way in which we can explore many areas of learning. It helps us with our maths skills, our scientific understanding, working as a team, healthy eating and much more. However, this can be costly in school and is not possible without some parent contribution. A small donation would be much appreciated so that these activities are possible. We would suggest £5.00 per half term. Please send contributions to the school office of £5.00 for this half term or £10 up till Easterto enable us to continue cooking with your child. Whilst this is a voluntary contribution made by parents, if we do not receive enough donations cooking may not be able to continue. The outcome of cooking is sometimes sent home, but often the children share what they have cooked as a snack in school to further the learning opportunities created by the activity.
PE
Our regular PE day will be Wednesday. This term will be gymnastics. Please make sure that your child has a PE kit in school at all times. It will need to contain a pair of appropriate PE plimsolls, a white t-shirt and navy blue shorts or joggers. Please make sure all items are named.
Outdoor clothing
We will be making full use of the school grounds and local area whatever the weather to develop outdoor learning, in addition to weekly Forest School sessions on a Monday afternoon, led by Mrs Rae. Children should be provided with a waterproof jacket and trousers plus wellington boots. These may be kept in school so we can go out and about at any time.
Spare clothing
It is always helpful if your child can have plastic bags, spare pants and socks in a bag that can be kept in school. Understandably some children may have toilet accidents during the year. We do have a small supply of spares but if your child comes home with borrowed items can we please request that they are washed and returned to school as soon as possible. Any donations of unwanted items are always useful and appreciated.
End of the Day
In order to keep the children safe we appreciate it if you could wait outside the blue gate at the end of the day until we have seen you and can send your child to meet you. That way we can be sure that children have gone to their nominated adult. Please do not stand in front of the Kennedy Class door as their teacher needs to see children out as well. Please ensure that if it will not be you picking your child up, you let us know who we can let them go to and either introduce them to us or ask them to bring some form of identification (if they are not already known to us). If another person will be collecting your child on a regular basis please send a written note.
Homework and Reading
All children should now be sharing their reading book or words at home with an adult daily, reading records are checked and every child receives a sticker on their chart for each day they have read; at the end of each term Mrs. Fairhurst presents a reward to all children across the school who have read every day for the whole term. Children will continue to bring home books from our book corner to share as well as their reading book. Please use their reading record (guidance provided inside) to communicate with us.
Children also bring home their homework books on Friday with activities to consolidate learning in class, these are expected to be returned on Monday. In addition Year 1 children have their spellings on Monday for which they are tested on Friday.
Observations and Assessments
Your child is continually observed and assessed during their time at school in order to make activities relevant to them with next steps for progress shared with you. The children will work on a regular basis with an adult on their targets and we may ask you to carry out specific tasks at home to support learning. We may also ask from time to time that you observe your child at home. This information will then feed into teacher assessments and the planning for your child. Year 1 have more formal assessments this year with three assessment points across the year.
Book Bags
Please ensure your child has a named book bag in school every day for books and letters to be sent home in, please check these every day.
Attendance
Finally, at the start of this new term, we would like to remind you of the importance of regular attendance at school, whenever possible. Our target is 95% because it has been proven that children who attend less than this can suffer damage to their education. 95% attendance is still the equivalent of 2 weeks’ missed learning over the year. Children who attend fewer than 90% of sessions can find this having a serious impact on their learning, because that is the equivalent, over a year, of 4 weeks’ missed learning, or 100 missed lessons.
Yours sincerely
Bridget Winter
Nightingales Class
Nightingales Class Timetable 2018
9-9.30 / 9.30-10.15 / 10.20-11.00 / 11.00 12.10 / 12.10 / 1.10 – 3.15Monday / Phonics / Literacy / Assembly / Break/ snack / Maths / Lunch / Forest School
Tuesday / Phonics / Literacy / Assembly / Break/ snack / Maths / Lunch / Topic/ Art/ History/ Geography / Spanish/ show and tell
Wednesday / Phonics / Literacy / Assembly / Break/ snack / Maths / Lunch / PE / PSED Circle Time
Thursday / Phonics / Literacy / Assembly / Break/ snack / Maths / Lunch / Topic/ Science / Spanish/ show and tell
Friday / Phonics / Literacy / Break/ snack / Maths / Lunch / FS/Y1/Y2 Rotation
- RE
- Music
- Computing
Nightingales Class Cooking
I would like my child to take part in cooking and enclose a voluntary contribution
£5.00 for this half term
£10 for the full term (until Easter)
Name of Child: ______Parent signature: ______
Please ensure we are informed of any food allergies, thank you.