1. Willow Class Meet the Teacher Ms Bamford Mrs Day

2. Welcome to Willow Class Team work It is important that your child sees themselves as part of a team and that we are all working together to help them reach their potential. New challenges This year there will be new end of year SATs (Standard Assessment Tasks) and we will let you know later in the year how you can support your child. Interesting topics We try to make the curriculum fun and this year we will be looking at Space, Time Travelling, Books by Julia Donaldson, Nocturnal animals, The Seaside and the Amazon Jungle.

3. Communication Face to face; on the playground Appointments Parents evenings – 19 th and 21st October Reading diaries Letters will be sent home in book bags School website http://www.johncliffordschool.com/ http://www.johncliffordschool.com/

4. During the day Fruit and milk (Please order milk online or look for the leaflets in the entrance hall) Water bottles (named) PE is Monday and Wednesday (remove earrings if possible) Parents’ Reading Morning is on Tuesday 8.50-9.10am Attendance and punctuality

5. PE KIT Please ensure your child has a PE kit in school at all times Plain white T-shirt Black shorts Black jogging/tracksuit bottoms Socks Trainers Please put your child’s name in all kit including trainers

6. Hot lunches! Free school meals are available to all children in KS1. Please encourage your child to try the hot lunches as they are well balanced and nutritious (and free!) If you decide to send your child with a packed lunch please choose healthy options.

7. Good to be Green On Friday all children who have been green all week will receive a ‘Good to be Green’ sticker in their reading diary. Yellow cards are given to children who continue to make the wrong behaviour choices after receiving a verbal warning. Red cards are awarded for serious incidents or for continuous wrong choices after receiving a yellow card. Parents will be informed if their child receives a red card.

8. At the end of the school day School finishes at 3.25pm. Children must wait until their teacher has seen the adult they are going home with. Please do not take your child before this has happened. If there are changes to the pick up arrangements at home time, please inform the school office by phone, so we know who is collecting them.

9. Homework Reading You will need to send your child’s reading book and diary everyday. (We keep track and record every time your child has read at home) Books will be changed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Research says that it benefits children to re-read and discuss books on more than one occasion) New target sheets have been stuck into your child’s book. These are the targets we are working on in guided reading sessions. You can highlight /tick them with your children as you read at home. We will be running a reading workshop in the next few weeks if you are interested in finding out more. Talk about the books, retell the story in order, ask questions about the characters and what motivated them, visit the library, model reading.

10. Spelling Every half term you will receive a spelling booklet that links directly to the phonics they are being taught. There is one page for each week. Encourage your child to read, look, cover, write and check the words. These words will be reviewed every Friday

11. Maths We do not set maths homework BUT we do provide you with a booklet of practical ways you can support your child through games and activities. On the JC website there is a weekly update of the objectives and websites we use in class so you can see what the children are learning and practise these skills with your child. Show and Tell Each child will be given a date for their presentation. They will be allocated a 2 minute slot in the Autumn Term to talk about anything they are interested in. This will increase to 3 minutes in the Spring Term and 5 minutes in the Summer Term. As the year goes on we will develop the children’s speaking and listening skills. Please help your child to think about and prepare for this.

12. Useful Websites www.topmarks.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk www.google.com/moon/ http://www.johncliffordschool.com/ www.literacyshed.com www.mathematicshed.com www.starfall.com

13. Calendar 15 th September-PRM begin 8.50-9.10am 30 th September- Harvest Festival W/C 19 th October- Poetry Week 19 th & 21 st October- Parents’ Evenings 21 st October-Individual photographs 23 rd October INSET day

14. Finally.......... We are here for you and your child, so please ask us if you don’t understand something, if you are worried about anything or you just want to celebrate your child with us. If you can’t get into school, please phone the office and leave a message and I will try and get back to you as quickly as I can. If you are available to help out please let us know and look out for trip letters as we value your support.