Happy New Year
Welcome to the fourth edition of the EYFS newsletter. Doesn’t Christmas seem like it was more than 5 or 6 weeks ago? The children have returned well after the long Christmas break and are making good progress. We look forward to sharing your child’s work with you and discussing their progress when we meet for the parent consultations on Wednesday 25th March. We will be able to share your child’s learning folder and show you their wonderful work.
Parent Workshops
We would also like to invite you to a writing workshop on the following dates:
Tuesday 10th March at 2:50pm. Please wait outside the school entrance. A member of the Early Years team will come and collect you. After the workshop, you will be able to take your child home with you.
Thursday 12th March at 9am. Please drop your child off at school and wait in the main playground for a member of the Early Years team to come and collect you.
This workshop will be an opportunity for us to model how we promote writing in Reception and share our strategies on developing your child’s writing skills. We look forward to seeing you there.
School Trips
We are very excited to announce that we have planned our first school trips with the children in Reception.
The first trip will be to Woolston Library on Thursday 5th March. We will be leaving at 9:15am and returning in time for lunch at 11:30am. Ideally, we need 8 parents/carers to come with us on the trip, so please let us know if you are able to volunteer for the morning. In the event that we have more than 8 volunteers putting their names forward we will draw names out of a hat. There is no cost for this trip.
The second trip will be to Longdown Farm on Tuesday 24th March. We will be leaving School at 9:30am and travelling to Longdown Farm by coach. We expect to be back for normal pick-up time at 3:20pm. The cost of this trip is £14.25 for each child. We will be sending out a letter before half term with more information about this trip. Ideally, we need 8 parents/carers to come with us on the trip, so please let us know if you are able to volunteer for the day.
On Thursday 2nd April, a visitor from the company Vitacress will be coming to School to work with our children and teach them about herbs, how to plant them and care for them. This will include planting a range of herbs and creating our own Reception herb garden! Later that day, the charity UKHarvest will be coming to work with our children about using herbs in cooking and healthy eating – this will include food tasting! There is no cost to you for this visit, although we may ask if you could donate £1 to cover the cost of the herb that your child will be given for them to grow at home with you! More information will be provided nearer the time.
Prayer
Some parents have asked for guidance on supporting their children’s prayer lives by using the school prayers at home. One of the prayers that we say at the end of the school day is:
God, Our Father, we come to say, thank You for Your love today. Thank you for my family, and all the friends You give to me. Guard me in the dark of night, and in the morning send Your light. Amen
Star Jobs
A couple of parents have enquired about ‘star jobs.’ A Star Job is a set task that your child has to do each week. There are normally two star jobs related to the three core subjects – RE, Literacy and Maths (the subjects we choose for the star jobs depends on the learning from that week). Adults are available to support when needed but the children are responsible for completing their task and crossing their name off the job list. There are other independent learning opportunities available in all learning areas throughout the week, as well as daily teaching inputs. However, the star job is an opportunity to promote independent learning and responsibility for completing a task.
Reception Needs You!
Our garden area has been relegated to a muddy mess and is the last remaining area of our outside learning space that requires development. In preparation for the herb planting that will take place before Easter, we require a small group of parents to volunteer to tidy up the muddy area, place some planters and repaint the planter that we already have. We can offer a small group of child gardeners and a member of our team to help you. Please speak to one of the adults at the gate if you are interested in volunteering for this role.
The Early Years Team
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