Welcome to Years 1 and 2

Dear parents/carers

A very warm welcome back to you and all our year 1 and year 2 children. We hope you all had a wonderful summer break! My name is Mr Quinn and I am the team leader for Year 1/2. I’m very excited about the coming year and feel lucky to have such a strong and committed team to work alongside. Miss Brown is class teacher for Bee Class. Miss McCrea is class teacher for Ladybird Class and I am the class teacher for Monkey Class. I’m delighted to say Mrs Davies, Mrs Missing, Mrs Lawniczak, Mrs Worrell and Mrs Ingram will be supporting the year group. As a team our ethos is simple. We want the very best for your child and will be working hard throughout the year to help them achieve their full potential. A crucial part of this is the relationship we have with you, our parents/carers. Our door is always open so please feel free to ask questions, let us know about any changes at home, ask for advice about how to support your child at home etc.

Homework:

Children will be issued with spellings (please see attached guidelines and spellings). These spelling patterns will be taught in school and children will have the opportunity to practice using them in their independent work. Please encourage your child to spell these words correctly in their homework and record this into the Home Learning book.
Children will be expected to read at home four times per week. Please record this in their Reading Records and these will be collected in each Friday. Children have been given a list of questions to help them write their comments.
Please hand homework books in on Monday with completed spellings. Class teachers will check through and books will be returned home each Wednesday.

Please find some time to help your child practise their number bonds to 10 and 20 (Year 1) and times tables (Year 2) at home. Learning number bonds and times tables is an important foundation for learning many different aspects of mathematics so it’s important that children have a solid grasp of them. By the end of year 1 children should have memorised number bonds to 10 and 20 and have fluent recall of these. By the end of year 2 children should have memorised the multiplication tables for 2, 5 and 10 and know the corresponding division facts. They need to be confident, accurate and fast. Your child’s Times tables Rock Stars log in is still active, please encourage them to use this resource. There are also some excellent websites and apps that support the learning of times tables such as:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/advice-for-parents/help-with-times-tables/
https://www.timestables.co.uk/2-times-table.html
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Suggested reading list (optional):

Welcome to Years 5 and 6

Dear parents/carers

A very warm welcome back to you and all our year 5 and year 6 children. We hope you all had a wonderful summer break! My name is Miss Bridges and I am the team leader for Year 5/6. I’m very excited about the coming year and feel lucky to have such a strong and committed team to work alongside. Miss Todd is class teacher for Elephants. Mrs Bennett and Mrs Higgs are the class teachers for Cheetahs and Mr Onishi has joined our team to be class teacher for Meerkats. I’m delighted to say Mrs Howe, Mrs Dexter-Foreshaw and Mr Haverty will continue to support the year group. As a team our ethos is simple. We want the very best for your child and will be working hard throughout the year to help them achieve their full potential. A crucial part of this is the relationship we have with you, our parents/carers. Our door is always open so please feel free to ask questions, let us know about any changes at home, ask for advice about how to support your child at home etc.

Homework:

Children will be issued with spellings (please see attached guidelines and spellings). These spelling patterns will be taught in school and children will have the opportunity to practice using them in their independent work. Please encourage your child to spell these words correctly in their homework.
Children will be expected to make four comments about their reading per week in their Reading Records and these will be collected in each Friday. Children have been given a list of questions to help them write their comments.
Weekly homework will be given out each Wednesday and is expected in the following Monday. Children will receive one piece of Maths and one piece of SPAG homework each week.
Year 6 children will also receive a piece of reading comprehension homework each week.
Mrs Bawn is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays 12.00 – 12.30 to help children with their homework. Please encourage your child to make use of this support if they are finding it difficult to complete the tasks at home.

Please find some time to help your child practise their times tables at home. Learning times tables is an important foundation for learning many different aspects of mathematics so it’s important that children have a solid grasp of them. By the end of year 4 children should have memorised multiplication tables up to and including 12 and know the corresponding division facts. They need to be confident, accurate and fast. Your child’s Times tables Rock Stars log in is still active, please encourage them to use this resource. There are also some excellent websites and apps that support the learning of times tables such as:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/advice-for-parents/help-with-times-tables/
https://www.timestables.co.uk/2-times-table.html
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables

Suggested reading list (optional):

Wolf Brother Michelle Paver
Who Let the Gods Out Maz Evans
Beetle Boy MG Leonard
Boy in the Tower Polly Ho-Yen
The Wolf Wilder Katherine Rundell
Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer
Skellig – David Almond
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen – Alan Garner
Grinny: Grinny and You Remember Me – Nicholas Fisk
Among the Hidden – Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Midnight Fox – Betsy Byars
The Tale of Despereaux – Kate DiCamillo
The Case of the London Dragonfish – Joan Lennon
The Sign of the Black Dagger – Joan Lingard
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
Stormbreaker – Anthony Horowitz
Narnia Stories – CS Lewis
Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
Billy the Kid – Michael Morpurgo
Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo