Year R

Welcome to Pine!

 

We hope your child really enjoyed their first week in school! We are thoroughly enjoying getting to know them. The children have adapted to their new setting really well, and we have been impressed with how well they have come into Pine by themselves and how quickly they have settled. We hope that the information below is helpful as your child settles into Pine.

Staff  Acorns: Monday – Mrs Mercer Tuesday to Thursday – Mrs Everett  Conkers: Tuesday and Wednesday pm - Mrs Mercer Monday, Wednesday am, Thursday and Friday – Mrs Donbavand (Mrs D) Shared teaching assistants – Miss Davanna, Mrs Higgs, Mrs Prela, Mrs Cretu, Ms Fisher and Mrs Rashid Home/ School Communication If you have a message regarding alternative pick up arrangements or medical appointments, you can either email the class teacher in advance or inform a member of staff on the Pine gate. For urgent messages, please phone the school office as the class teacher may not be able to access emails until the end of the school day. If your child is in Acorn class, please email both Mrs Everett and Mrs Mercer. If your child is in Conker class, please email both Mrs D and Mrs Mercer. This will help us to be kept fully informed. If you require a longer conversation, the class teacher is very happy to speak in person at the end of the day once all other children have been collected. If this is not possible, you can email us or phone the school office to have a telephone conversation. Mrs Mercer kerry.mercer@firslower.org Mrs Everett nicola.everett@firslower.org Mrs D sarah.donbavand@firslower.org

Read, Write, Inc We will be starting to teach Read, Write, Inc (RWI) from Monday 22nd September, which is the programme we use to teach reading and writing. We teach a sound a day and when the children have been taught a new sound, they will bring an associated ‘sound/handwriting sheet’ home in their popper wallet the same day. We would really appreciate it if you could spend a few minutes helping your child to complete the sheet on the day it comes home as this has the greatest impact on helping to reinforce what has been taught. Please could you transfer the sound sheet from the popper wallet to your child’s Sounds folder each day and give your child their wallet each morning so that they can place it in the box, ready for the next sound sheet The Sounds folder is to be kept at home. Look out for the folder containing the first sound sheet (m) in your child’s bag next Monday (22nd). A ‘My Set 1 Speed Sounds Book’ will also be sent home and this will help your child to consolidate the sounds taught. We will be running some RWI Parent Information Sessions which we will let you know about in due course. Reading Books Alongside the sound sheets coming home, reading books will be issued once a week, commencing Monday 22nd September. For the majority of the children, these will be ‘wordless’ books. There are many skills which can be developed through sharing picture books and these are outlined in your child’s Reading Record. The inserts on the front and back covers also provide lots more information about reading. Please keep the Reading Record and book(s) in your child’s popper wallet which needs to come into school every day.

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a behaviour and communication platform that links parents and school together to celebrate successes and strengthen the supportive network that is around your child. It allows, through the use of Dojo Points (or dojos), teachers to reward positive behaviours and good work whilst providing a place to share photos and notes about the work that is going on in Pine. Once this has been set up, we will send out further communication about how to set up a parent account.

Reception Baseline Assessment

Reception Baseline Assessment You may be aware that as from September 2021, it is a statutory requirement to carry out a Reception Baseline Assessment for every child. The government have produced a leaflet for parents which explains all about it and this can be accessed through this link Information for Parents- Reception Baseline Assessment

Donations!

As part of the continuous provision in Pine, we like to have the following resources available all the time.

• corks
• plastic lids
• egg boxes
• recycled greetings cards (birthday, anniversary etc). Please could you cut off the right hand side of the card.

Occasionally, we may request recycling but we’ll email about this as and when we’re getting low otherwise we’ll be overflowing! Many thanks.

ParentPay

If your child is having hot dinners, please could you make sure that you have selected which meals your child is having through ParentPay. If you are completing this on a weekly basis, it needs to be done by the end of Thursday at the latest (for the following week). If changes need to be made after this point, please inform a member of staff on the morning of the change. Many thanks.

Many thanks.

PE Lessons

Acorn and Conker PE sessions are every Friday, starting on 26th September. We would like the children to come dressed to school in their PE Kit (inc appropriate footwear which can be plimsolls or trainers). As the weather gets colder, the children will need to wear black tracksuit bottoms and a green jumper (which can be their school jumper/cardigan).

Involving Parents

We love to involve parents in the children’s learning so if you have a job which involves helping people such as a firefighter, dentist etc or a hobby/skill such as art or gardening, please do let a member of staff know. We’d also be interested to hear from any parent who would like to come into Pine to listen to children read. Thank you.

Reminders 

• Name labels-Please could you check that all your child’s items of school clothing are labelled, including their shoes, as we have come across some items which do not have a name in. Thank you.
• Lunch boxes- please can your child’s name be written clearly on the outside of the lunch box.
• Water bottles- All children need to bring their named water bottle into school with them every day.
• Welly boots-please could your child bring in a pair of named welly boots if they haven’t already done so. Welly boots are needed when playing at the water tray, mud kitchen and in the digging pit.
• Ruck sack- If your child doesn’t have a ruck sack yet, these can be purchased from Prestige in Flitwick. Please ensure the bag is named clearly on the outside so that staff can identify them easily.

Typo re Training Day

We want to make you aware of a typo in the Pine Booklet which was given to you in July at the New Pine Parent’s Meeting. It said that the date of the Inset Day is 30th November but it should have said Monday 3rd November 2025.

Wet/Soiling Accidents

If your child wets or soils themselves, we will let you know by popping a note (on yellow paper) in their bag.

Bump Notes

We use ‘Bump Notes’ to inform you if your child has had an injury in school. If it is serious, we will always phone to let you know.

Please check your child’s bag every day in case we have popped a note in.

We hope that this letter has answered some of your questions, but if not, please do not hesitate to email your child’s class teacher with any queries.

We have had a wonderful time getting to know all the new Pine children, and we’re looking forward to working with you in partnership to make sure they all have a fantastic year with us.  

Thank you for your support.

The Pine Team