1 Lower School – What should my child expect this year.
2 What will my child be learning in Lower School?Year 1 topics – Perfect Pattern – patterns in African art, study of UK and Africa In the toy Box – History of toys Red Hot – Great fire of London Wacky Weather – Weather patterns in UK Explorers – History focus – Neil Armstrong/Christopher Columbus We’re all going on a Summer Holiday – Locating 4 countries in UK?Beach More detail on individual subjects can be found in your parent pack and on the school website.
3 What will my child be learning in Lower School?Year 2 topics – Yo Ho! A Pirate’s Life for Me – Geography focus – Continents and Oceans Let it Shine! – Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole – History Focus Brrr! It’s Cold! – Artic Up, up and away! – History of transport Furry Feathered Friends – Woodland, Forests and Rivers Dreamland – Shakespeare study More detail on individual subjects can be found in your parent pack and on the school website.
4 New Curriculum Second year of testing for Year 2Reception will move to a new curriculum which has high expectations Raised expectations particularly in spelling, grammar and maths. Parental support will be key in your child’s success
5 New Assessment ProceduresNo levels Children will still be assessed every term as to whether they are beginning, working within or secure in the curriculum for their year group. End of year – Met national standard, below national standard, exceeding national standard Emerging, expected, exceeding
6 What could that mean for my child?Higher expectations – children need to achieve more than perhaps they did previously. Could make it appear that pupils who had previously been judged as operating at a level higher than is expected of them under ‘old levels’ may find themselves only meeting or in some cases being below the new tougher expectations. Last Year we have been focusing on developing the skills that children were not previously required to learn or that they were only required to know to a lesser degree which have now been given a greater emphasis at an earlier age.
7 Year 2 SATs Reading test GPS test Maths testWill be in May – all marked in school alongside teacher assessments More details about how they are assessed, marked and scored will come later in the year.
8 Year 1 Phonics In June Children need to be fluent at Phase 5 of letters and sounds Tests real words and non words such as ‘ect’ and ‘drapt’ Completed in school by Miss Pearce
9 New Assessment Procedures – a reminderNo levels Children will still be assessed every term as to whether they are beginning, working within or secure in the curriculum for their year group. End of year reporting – Will remain the same as last year for Teacher Assessment. Working below expected age attainment range Working within expected age attainment range Working within upper expected age attainment band Working above expected age attainment range More information will follow on Year 2 SATS assessment reporting
10 Reading Your child will continue to read books from the schools reading scheme – Big Cat All children will be assessed at the end of every half term on an individual basis. This will determine whether they should move up a level or remain on the same colour
11 Reading – How can I help my child?Hear your child read every night – all children should be reading for at least 5 minutes a night. Record all their reading in our new reading records If your child is reading by themselves question them about their reading using our question guide sheet.
12 Reading This year all children will use the library on at least a fortnightly basis to change their books. These are reading for pleasure books. This will be on a Monday. They should have their library books in school on this day. Recommended reading lists are included in the parent packs for each year group. All will be in the library by Christmas. Please encourage their choices.
13 Spelling/Phonics Your child will have daily spelling (yr2) or phonics lessons (yr 1) Weekly spelling test on a Friday. New spellings will be given out on a Friday for the next week Spelling tests will test patterns and rules previously learnt as well as the High Frequency and common words for KS1 Test scores will be recorded in their spelling books
14 Spelling/Phonics With heightened focus on spelling in the new curriculum, termly spelling test will tell you how your child is faring with the new word lists or phase words if completing phonics Ideas for spelling games were given on newsletters last year – see the office for copies if wanted
15 Grammar New GPS tests at end of KS1 and KS2 mean children need a good knowledge of Grammar. What your child is expected to know this year is part of your parent pack. New GPS tests at end of Year 2 are new and relatively unknown to us Last year these were leaked so Year 2 didn’t take them.
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17 Maths Your child will continue to have a weekly times table test usually on a Friday Children have 5 minutes to complete sheet. Once a child gets them all right in the allotted time they move up to the next set and will be awarded a certificate. End of Year 4 expectation is that all children will know all their tables by heart – 12 x 12 and related division facts Don’t stop them there as they will then move on to 15 x 15 grids and speed tables in Upper School
18 RUDECAT Children will continue using RUDECAT when solving problemsRead, Understand, decide, estimate, calculate, answer, tick Encourage your child to use this approach when problem solving at home
19 Calculation Methods Please use the methods the class teacher is using when helping children at home. Teaching a different method can often lead to confusion with the children A copy of our calculation policy is available on request from Miss Fairhead. Look out for Math’s workshops throughout the year where methods in each new phase are explained.
20 Homework Weekly spellings and timetables to learnA piece of Maths or English – handed out on a Friday, due back on following Wednesday Termly project based around their topic
21 Will my child notice a difference?Different behaviour Policy Every day is a sunshine day. Sanctions = warning, thundercloud = 5 min loss of choosing time. 3 thunderclouds in a week = letter home. Year 1 – Independence – Children will be expected to do more for themselves particularly those moving from Reception. Less Free flow. Guided Reading in the afternoons Year 1 – Your child will be read with less than last year
22 General Reminders School starts at 8.45am Registers close at 8.55am. Please try not to be late Arriving 5 mins late everyday adds up to over 3 lost days each year Please let us know who your child will be collected by if it is not yourself. If your child is walking home alone from school or a club or meeting you further down the road we must have a letter to tell us this ASAP. Mobile Phones – Should not be in school. If it is needed please speak to Mrs Smith or the phase leader. We will need a letter to explain why and phones will be kept in the school office.
23 General Reminders Hair should be neatly tied back please in school coloured hair bands. No elaborate hair slides, beads etc. Boys shouldn’t have any shavings during term time please Jewellery – studs and a watch is fine but will need to be removed independently for PE All children must wear a tie everyday We have an open door policy – please come and speak to us with any concerns or problems. A problem shared is a problem halved.
24 Attendance The school do not authorise any term time holidays unless in exceptional circumstances. Each case is looked at individually by the Head of School. All exceptional circumstances are different and will be judged at the time. Please fill in a holiday form and hand to the office if any term time absence is needed. Every child has the right to come to school every day. We aim for all children to have as close to 100% attendance as possible. 95% is the national average and we always aim to be higher than this.
25 Attendance Across a year... 1 day absence means 99.5%10 days absence means 95% attendance (2 school weeks) 19 days absence means 90% attendance (4 school weeks) Attendance is monitored by ourselves at 90%
26 E-Safety Children follow the SMART rules – We will be focusing on e-safety more this term. S – Safe - Keep safe by not giving out personal details, address or passwords M – Meeting – Never meeting anyone from online. Remembering online friends are still strangers A – Accepting – only accepting friends, s etc from people they know R – Reliable – check that what people are telling you is true. People can lie online easily T – Tell – Tell an adult if you are worried about anything or if someone is not treating you nicely online. We recommend that children don’t use social media but if they are that you supervise this time well and know what they are looking at and using online. More e-safety advice is available on our website.
27 Any Questions?
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