1. Teachers: Miss Leyser, Mrs Cook, Mrs Gentles and Miss Virtue Teaching assistants: Mrs Smith, Mrs Munnelly, Mrs Lockwood, Miss Hattrill and Mrs Dunmore

2. We encourage our children at Hayes Primary School to be: confident; independent; ambitious life long learners; good communicators; polite and have good manners; resilient; open minded; willing to take risks; valued members of the community.

3. At Hayes Primary School we value: Respect Tolerance Responsibility Cooperation Friendship Love Courage Appreciation Honesty Understanding Thoughtfulness

4. Children’s Learning Our aim is to make children into independent learners. This begins in the reception classes and as they move into the juniors, they are expected to take more responsibility for their own work and resources. Please refer to the newsletter each half-term for information about the topics to be covered and ways you can support your child at home.

5. Homework & Reading Homework will be set on a Friday and will be due back into school on Wednesday (unless otherwise stated). We recommend children spend around 20 minutes on each piece of homework given. We will be continuing with learning logs until October half term. Children are expected to write a short amount about what they enjoyed most at school during the week. Reading records: Books will be changed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and we encourage children to take responsibility for handing their books in. Please can children bring their reading books in every day as they may be read with on non book changing days.

6. Homework & Reading Reading record books are not checked daily and therefore any notes to the teacher should be addressed separately. Please could you hand in any notes directly to the teacher, or ask your child to, as we do not check the children’s book bags. Children should be encouraged to read every day for around 10 minutes at home and complete their reading record accordingly with a signature from an adult. Guided reading: Each child will receive 1 session per week of guided group reading, which will focus on a different aspect of decoding skills or comprehension.

7. Assessment We are assessing your children continuously to ensure we are setting tasks that are both challenging and achievable. Our assessments are used to track children's progress. This ensures we are meeting their educational needs, and are making the expected progress. Where a child is not making expected progress in a particular area, we will put in place interventions to ensure they are receiving the support they need. Year 1 phonics screening is carried out in the Summer term, it is a national requirement. We will ensure that your child’s progress is closely monitored. We will give you feedback at the upcoming parents’ evenings. Parents evening dates:Tuesday 2 nd December Thursday 4 th December

8. School Trips/Visitors School Trips and visitors This half term we will be going on a trip to the local as part of our ‘Hello I’m new here’ topic. Next half term we will be organising a trip or visit for our ‘Toys’ topic. Due to the changes for the new 2014 National Curriculum, we will inform you of other trips and visits as they arise.

9. During this academic year each class will have a class assembly to share their current learning with their parents. Each assembly will take place on a Friday morning at 9.15am and the dates for each class are as follows: 1L - Friday 24 th April 2014 1V - Friday 8 th May 2014 1CG - Friday 26 th June 2014 Assemblies

10. Information It is important that your child is punctual and has excellent attendance. In the morning our classroom doors open at 8.45am and children need to be in the classroom by 8.55am. If children arrive after this time (once the door is closed), they must go to the office to be registered. Our day finishes at 3.15pm, where the children will line up in their classes in the infant playground. They must inform their teacher once they have seen who is collecting them. Your child will need a named PE kit (including trainers/tracksuits for outdoor PE) and their book bag in school at all times. Your child will remain in the same house as before. After half term we will be accepting parent help in the afternoons. Please complete a parent help letter if you are interested in this and we will get back to you.

11. Teaching Assistants Teaching Assistants have been allocated to the year group. 1V Mrs Dunmore 1L Mrs Smith and Mrs Munnelly 1CG Mrs Lockwood and Miss Hattrill Additional support and interventions will take place outside of the Maths and English lessons in the afternoons.

12. Healthy Schools The good news is that school dinners are now free for year 1 children! If you choose not to have these, please send your child to school with a healthy packed lunch in a named, sealed box. Children are provided with a piece of fruit at break time each day. Please remember that we are a nut free school! Please do not send your child in with any nut products. Children are encouraged to bring named water bottle into class containing water only.

13. Finally…… Thank you for coming this evening! If you have any questions or concerns then please do not hesitate to speak to one of the Year 1 team.