Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been really impressive to see how quickly all of the children have settled into their learning this term. Six weeks is a long time to be away from the routines and demands of school and we know that there can be a bit of a 'post summer lag'. However, it has been noticeable how well children have got back into their stride and are building on prior learning. We will have curriculum organisers out to you in the next few days so that you can see what is coming up this term.
'How are they settling in?'
We are now a couple of weeks into the term and if you haven't yet done so, please do try to have a very quick conversation with your child's teacher to see how they have settle in. As I mentioned above, we are super-impressed with the attitude and learning behaviour we are seeing and it would be nice to communicate this to you about your child. These conversations can happen at the gate / on the playground after school and don't need to be formal or booked in advance. Although you are very welcome to book a meeting with your child's teacher after school at any point, it is probably best to leave these more formal conversations until they have completed a few more weeks in class.
Reading
In school
As always, reading is a key priority across the school. Early reading in Class One, continuing into Class Two has an emphasis on phonics and learning the first sets of tricky 'red' words (these are words that can not be read using phonic knowledge such as the / said). Children in Y2 move onto Accelerated Reader and this continues through Class Three and into Class Four. Accelerated Reader is a tracking system that allows us to match book difficulty to reading age, so that a child has appropriate challenge and success as well as enjoyment of what they read.
All children read every day in school in a range of contexts. This reading may be individual with an adult; in a small group; in whole class guided reading sessions; as part of a lesson in a different subject or as part of Collective Worship. We want 'Every Child a Reader' to be a fact at High Bick and that means enjoying reading as well as being fluent and comprehending.
At home
At home, it is important to expose your child to reading on a daily basis. This starts with adults reading to a child; talking about books and stories; reading along together and moves to hearing your child read. Even in Y6, it is important to listen to your child read regularly. As you know, reading is the main part of the homework we give. We expect that children will engage in some reading activity at home for at least:
Reception - 10 minutes
Y1/2 - 20 minutes
Y3/4 - 30 minutes
Y5/6 - 45 minutes
Children in Y3-6 need to make a record of their reading each day in their Reading Log. For younger children, it is helpful if parents / carers record what reading activity has been done each day at home.
Viperss
The acronym 'viperss' covers the main activities that we want children to become good at as they become proficient readers:
V - Vocabulary ... find out and explain the meaning of words in context
I - Infer ... make and justify inferences using evidence from a text (eg. I think Hermione was frightened as she hid behind Ron)
P - Predict ... predict what may happen next based on what you have read so far
E - Explain ... how you know something related to what you have read
R - Retrieve ... retrieve information from somewhere in the text
S - Sequence ... put key events in order
S - Summarise ... summarise the main ideas from what you have read
Pick up
A reminder please for children who bicycle to school not to ride these under the arch or on the playground after school until classes have been dismissed and the area is quieter. We have already had a couple of near misses where a child from Class Four left the main school at 3:30pm to move across to their cloakroom just as a child sped through the arch on their bike.
Have a lovely weekend,
Rob Norton
Head of School
