Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back! I hope that you all had a wonderful and relaxing summer. We have lots of exciting things planned for the upcoming term and are looking forward to working with you.
This letter contains key information about school and the curriculum, as well as important dates for the year ahead and it may be useful to keep it for your future reference. If you have any further questions, please speak with me or your child’s teacher.
TEACHERS IN YEAR 1/2/3
|
Year 1/2 |
1/2TO: Miss O’Connell 1/2LW: Mrs Woor 1/2HH: Mrs Hubbard and Mrs Hilton 1/2SR: Mrs Robinson and Mrs Rosenfeld (1day) 1/2GT: Mrs Thomas and Mr Hemmings (1 day)* |
|
Year 3 |
3SM: Mrs Salisbury and Mrs Miles 3JI: Miss Ison 3LA: Mrs Armitage * |
|
*Changes after October half term |
1/2GT: Mrs Thomas and Miss Scott (1 day) 3LA: Mrs Armitage and Miss Scott (1 day) |
In addition, we have a fantastic group of TAs supporting us across the team, working in the classrooms and carrying out interventions. We also have a group of UQTs who will release teachers for their PPA time to give them time to plan and prepare each week. Please see your child’s class teacher to find out who will be working alongside them this year.
ROUNTINES AND TIMES
School now begins at 8:40am, and children need to be ready to line up at this time outside their classroom. The gates will open at 8:30am. You may accompany your child onto the school site and wait with them until the whistle blows. However, we ask that all parents leave the site as soon as the whistle blows and do not wait for their child to enter the school building. Should your child be distressed at the start of the day, we request that you leave them with us and do not attempt to come with them to their classroom. Please note, that staff are not able to physically manoeuvre children into the building. We request that children only enter the school building after the whistle has blown and that they do so on their own. There is no need for children to enter the building to hang up bags before the start of the school day. On rainy days the children may come straight into their classrooms. At all other times, we request that they line up outside their classrooms. Children should not be playing or running around before school. Children who are running around during this time will be asked to line up sensibly. We ask you to support us by reminding your child to follow these rules at the start of the day.
It is important that children arrive on time for registration. Children who arrive after 8:40 will be marked as late on the register. Should your child arrive after the gates are closed, they will need to enter school though the Office. Year 1-3 children have their phonics, spelling and reading provision in the mornings and those who are late will miss out on essential learning. We have seen a direct correlation between those children who are persistently late and those who have not achieved the expected standard in reading.
The end of the school day is at 3:10 pm for all children. You will be able to come onto the school site and wait outside your child’s classroom. We would appreciate it if you could pick up children promptly. If you are going to be late, telephone the Office and we will arrange for your child to wait at reception. Children should only leave the school building when they see an adult who is expected waiting to collect them. If your child is being collected by someone other than the person who normally picks them up, please let us know as we will only let children go with named adults. Staff will not release a child to anyone other than their regular adult collector or another adult who we have been informed may collect them.
What children need to bring to school:
- Suitable clothing for the season
- PE kit
- Bag for reading books
- Water bottle (only containing water please) and playtime snack (NB Children in Years 1 and 2 will be provided with fruit daily)
We will provide the children with all stationery they need so there is no need for them to come to school with their own pencil cases. We also request that children do not bring toys or games (including football and other collectable cards) to school as these often get lost and this can cause upset and disruption to learning. Any toys brought into school (other than where this a prior arrangement with a parent) will be taken from the child, kept by the class teacher and handed back at the end of the school day.
Uniform and P.E. Kit
The school’s full guidelines on uniform can be found in our School Uniform Policy and should be adhered to. Children should be wearing red jumpers/ sweatshirts only with a white or red polo-shirt and black or grey trousers or shorts (no cycle shorts please). Tights should be red, black or grey. Leggings may be worn under a skirt only.
PE kit needs to be in school all week and can be taken home at weekends for washing as necessary. Children will need a white t-shirt, black shorts, black tracksuit trousers, a black sweatshirt, socks (if they wear tights) and trainers – all named please. As the weather gets colder, we will continue to do outdoor games once a week, so these items really are essential! For health and safety reasons children are not allowed to wear any jewellery during PE sessions and must have long hair tied back. If your child wears earrings and is unable to remove them themselves, please ensure that they are removed on PE days. Staff are unable to do this for them. PE, like any other subject, is part of the National Curriculum. Therefore, all pupils must take part in PE lessons, unless you let us know of a medical reason.
READING, SPELLING AND HOMEWORK
Reading
We strongly encourage every child to read every day at home with, where possible, the support of their parents and carers, helping them to develop healthy, lifelong reading habits. Children will read with their class teacher or another adult in the class at least once a week (for Year 1 children this may be during their Read Write Inc phonics sessions).
Every child will always have a reading book, which can move between home and school. Key Stage One children who are accessing the Read Write Inc scheme will have one banded Read Write Inc book and a more challenging non-decodable text. This second text is for you to share together. All other children will have either two shorter non-decodable texts or one longer chapter book. Please note, the Read Write Inc scheme is designed so that children are provided with texts that they can decode confidently in order to support their fluency. It is our hope that they will read the book sent with them confidently and with good accuracy. Please see your child’s teacher if this is not the case.
Children in Year 2 who are no longer on the RWInc Scheme and Year 3 will be given responsibility for changing their own books once they have finished one. Teachers will ensure that the children have a book at all times but it will be the children’s responsibility to choose a book of the appropriate level and replace it when needed. The children can also borrow books from the LRC.
We ask you to bear with us whilst we ascertain the children’s reading levels. Children will be sent home with reading books by the end of the first full week of term. It may be that you feel that the books sent with your child are too challenging or too easy. If this is the case, please speak with your child’s teacher.
This year, all children in Years 1-3 will have a Reading Journal. These journals are another important way of helping children to develop healthy reading habits and to build a regular routine around reading at home and in school. We would ask that you initial this book whenever you read with your child. We really value parent and carer support in encouraging children to look after their journals, keep their reading records up to date, and hand them in regularly. Teachers will be taking these books in at the end of each week on a Friday to monitor the children’s reading.
Homework
We will be continuing with our usual Key Stage One homework routine. We would like children to read regularly with a grown up and spend half an hour a week on Times Tables Rock Stars or Numbots. This can be in as many sessions as you would like but the impact is generally greater with children who do several short sessions rather than one long one each week. We will also be sending home spelling lists and will provide you with additional information about these later in the half term.
Numbots and Times Tables Rock Stars
Children in Years 2 and 3 are signed up to Times Tables Rock Stars and children in Years 1 and 2 are signed up to ‘Numbots’. This will provide a key part of our homework provision (see above). We will send all children home with their log in details within the next couple of weeks.
THE CURRICULUM - AUTUMN TERM
Children will have daily Maths and English lessons. This year, English and Maths in KS1 will be taught in individual year groups. Details of this will follow in a separate email and will be explained during our KS1 information session on Wednesday 9th September.
We are committed to ensuring that our curriculum provision outside of the core subject areas is of the highest quality. In order to support our ‘Knowledge Rich Curriculum’, teachers have produced Knowledge Organisers for History, Geography, Science, Art, Music, DT and RE. These contain the key knowledge which we will teach the children and hope that they will retain. These will all be available on the school website: Cottenham Primary School - Knowledge Organisers. It would be useful if you could spend some time looking at this information with your child, helping them to learn some of the key information.
Additional Support
It is possible that at some point your child will require some extra support or help in class. We are extremely fortunate to have a highly skilled Teaching Assistant body, who can run a number of interventions. These interventions will largely take place in the classroom after discussion between the class teacher and TA. At times, your child may be removed from the classroom to attend small group interventions. Your child’s class teacher will always let you know if your child is receiving additional support and our Inclusion team, Richard Moore, supported by Tina Eales and Lisa Dhese, are available to speak with you if you have any concerns. Appointments can be made through the Office.
TRIPS AND VISITS
We try as much as possible to enrich our curriculum with trips and visits. In order for this to occur we are reliant on your support to make up our adult/child ratio. Parents wishing to accompany us on trips will need to be a CPS approved Volunteer (please see below for more information about this). We will be taking Year 1/2 to Ely and Year 3 to Flag Fen this autumn.
Helping in Class
We have been lucky over the last Year to enjoy the support of a body of regular parent helpers and this is something we are keen to continue. All parent helpers will first need to attend a Parent Helper Induction session with the headteacher, Mr Kilsby, which will start the process of becoming a CPS Registered Volunteer Helper. The date of the next Parent Helper Induction Session will be given to you as soon as possible. We would also like to build up a body of parents to help with a range of basic skills across the team. We will write to you shortly with details of this. Parents who wish to support with hearing readers will need to attend an additional Parent Helper Reading Briefing. We will allow the children to settle for a couple of weeks before inviting parents into the classroom so please bear with us.
COMMUNICATION
Getting in touch
You will be given an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher during our Parent Consultations on Tuesday 20th and Thursday 22nd October.
We ask that any concerns about your child are taken to your child’s teacher initially (ideally this should be via the Office). Should you then wish to discuss a concern with a member of the Senior Leadership Team, please send an email via the School Office to me in the first instance and an appointment can be made to discuss any issues further.
Each class has a white board. This will be used to let you know what we are covering in Maths, English and Topic as well as giving reminders about upcoming events.
Keep up-to-date on our website
You can still find some key information on the 123 Pages of the website. This will be updated every half term. Please note that our website can be translated for those parents who wish to view it in their primary language.
Letters
These will be sent out via MCAS as usual.
KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:
Wednesday 3rd September: Start of term
Wednesday 9th September: KS1 Information Briefing (3:30pm)
Thursday 10th September: KS1 Poetry Recital (2:30pm)
Thursday 24th September: CPS PTCA Summer Fair (5:00pm—7:00pm)
Friday 18th September: Jeans for Genes Day
Wednesday 23rd September: KS1 Phonics Briefing (6pm)
Monday 28th September: KS1 trip to Ely
Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th October: Individual Photographs
Wednesday 14th October: Year 123 Maths Information Session (3:15pm)
Tuesday 20th October: Parent Consultations (3:30pm—5:30pm)
Thursday 22nd October: Parent Consultations (3:30pm—5:30pm)
26th – 30th October: Half-term week
Friday 6th November: CPS PTCA Firework Display
Monday 16th November: Year 3 Trip to Flag Fen
Wednesday 2nd & Thursday 3rd December: Year 1/2 Christmas Production (2:15pm)
Thursday 10th December: CPS PTCA Winter Fair
Friday 11th December: Christmas Jumper Day
Friday 18th December: Term ends (2pm)
Wednesday 6th January: Children back to school
I am looking forward to working with you this term. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time with queries or questions.
With best wishes,
Chris Hemmings (Year 1,2,3 Team leader and Acting Deputy Head Teacher)