Meet the Team St. Michael’s Catholic School Primary Phase 2016 - 2017

What is new for 2016 – 2017? We will continue to embed the new expectations for the National Curriculum. The curriculum handouts will give you an overview of what is learnt in each year group. New assessments for Year 2 and Year 6. We will continue to assess without levels. The building project which will create new facilities for all our pupils from Jan 2017. We are planning further opportunities for parents to find out about life in school, starting with maths week next week. Further work with our parishes to develop our strong links with St. Augustine’s and BJHN, Fr. Joseph and Fr. Paul. Miss Kavanagh Head of RE.

Welcome to Year 6 The team this year is: Miss Kavanagh Miss Smith Mrs. Allard Mrs. Hyman Mrs. Howard Mrs. Jones

Timetable for Year 6 Maths Collective Worship Break English Lunchtime 9.00 – 10.05 10.05 – 10.30 10.30 – 10.45 10.45 – 12.00 12.00 – 1.00 1.00 – 1.30 2.00 – 3.15 MON Maths Collective Worship Break English Lunchtime Handwriting RE TUES PE/DT WED Humanities THUR PE/ICT/Art FRI Science

PE days Our PE lesson days are Tuesday Thursday PE lessons are taught by specialist PE teachers from Secondary. For PE lessons, children will need School shorts/ joggers School t-shirt Fleece Layers for colder weather

Home learning The children will receive home learning activities on: Monday to be handed in Friday – this will consist of some spelling practise related to our spelling focus of the previous week, Maths, handwriting and some humanities/science occassionaly. Extra work is available on My Maths Please ensure that your child reads every night. Books will be changed when necessary. Please support your child with his / her homework. This might be sitting with them to help, hearing them read or just keeping them on track for handing it in on time. If your child does not understand some aspect of their homework, please send them in to ask us – they should take responsibility for this.

Assessment Teachers will continue to assess pupils’ understanding in the wide range of ways that we have done previously – including questioning, marking and use of school assessments. We will continue to report to parents and carers annually whether pupils are working at, beyond or towards age related expectations for their year group.

Trips and visits We will give you good notice for trips so that payments can be processed in time for your child to attend on parentpay. Please complete the annual consent form but a specific consent form for any trip must also be completed otherwise we cannot take your child. This year we are planning to go to Kingswood– look out for further information nearer the time

Highlights of Year 6 14th Oct Transfer Test Results 21st Oct Deadline for paper Secondary Application 31st Oct Deadline for on-line Secondary Application KS2 SATs w/b 8th May 2016 Maths- Arithmetic 30mins & 2 mathematical reasoning 40 mins Reading- one hour SPAG- grammar and punctuation 45 mins & spellings 20mins Kingswood w/c 27st March to Friday 31st March evening

General routines School starts promptly at 8.45am so please ensure that children are here on time. There are currently road works linked to the Daws Lane development and will be until around November time so allow extra time for your journey! Children leave at 3pm in Reception, 3.10pm in Key Stage 1 and 3.15pm in Key Stage 2. We’ve sent out a letter asking for end-of-day arrangements which, if you haven’t yet returned it, needs to be back in school as soon as possible. Please let us know about changes to end-of-day arrangements as soon as possible and preferably in writing. Please contact Justine Briggs if you require places for breakfast club. Contact Florence Potts if you require places for Friends Play on 07725400974 or florrie@email.com

How we communicate with you Fortnightly e-newsletter Letters which let you know about other events, trips or important information Website Yearly dates overview which you should have received in the first week back to school Seeing you in the playground / by telephone if anything has cropped up during the day Appointments Parents’ evenings

How to communicate with us Most teachers are out at pick up time with at least one member of the staff team from each year group available at this time. (Afternoons work better than mornings unless it is a real emergency.) E-mailing the office@stmichaels.bucks.sch.uk or contacting the office staff. Staff don’t use their e-mails as they don’t have time to check them during the day. A note in the school bag Making an appointment if an issue is likely to need some discussion Parents’ evenings

Uniform There is a reminder about school uniform which you can take this evening. Some reminders are: Please label all items so that anything lost can be returned. No jewellery is permitted. If girls have recently had their ears pierced, they should have studs covered for the first six weeks after which earrings should not be worn in school. Boys’ haircuts should be a similar length all over. Shavings, mohicans and extreme styles are not permitted. If boys have these styles, they should be allowed to grow out and not be repeated. Girls should have blue or white hair decorations only and these should not be overly decorative. Proper schools shoes only are permitted. Children may not wear trainers.

Snacks and lunches Children will continue to have hot lunches – if requested – in the canteen. You should have received a letter about how to order and pay for these this week. Reception children start hot lunches after half term. Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 continue to have fruit or vegetables provided for snack time. Key Stage 2 are encouraged to bring a snack for break time but this should be fruit – biscuits, crisps, chocolate, sweets etc. are not permitted. Please do not send sweets / cakes etc. into school for birthdays or other special occasions. These will not be given out in case children have allergies.

Snacks and lunches Children can bring a water bottle to school. Water is also provided in Reception and Key Stage 1 classrooms and is available in the Key Stage 2 playgrounds. Reception children can sign up for milk through the ‘Cool Milk’ website.

Any questions?

We hope to have an enjoyable and productive year with you and all the children. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.