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Year R

Welcome to Pine!

Mrs Mercer
Acorns Teacher
Mrs Donbavand
Acorns Teacher
Ms Cox
Conkers Teacher
Mrs Cameli
Conkers Teacher

We hope your child had a fantastic time on their ‘induction’ days and 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:

Mrs Mercer (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon)

Mrs Donbavand (Mrs D) (Wednesday morning, Thursday and Friday)


Conkers:

Conkers: Miss Cox (Monday-Thursday)

 Mrs Cameli (Friday)

 

Shared teaching assistants- Miss Davanna, Mrs Pinny, Mrs Casey

Read, Write, Inc

We will be starting to teach Read, Write, Inc (RWI) from Monday 25th 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 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 place the popper wallet in the box next to the Pine gate every morning. 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 on Monday 25th September.

A ‘My Set 1 Speed Sounds Book’ will also be sent home and this will help your child to consolidate the sounds taught.

A Read Write Inc information evening for parents will be held on the evening of 2nd October. More information will be provided closer to the time.

Reading Books

Alongside the sound sheets coming home, reading books will be issued once a week, commencing Monday 25th 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.

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 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.

Acorns- Mrs Mercer- kerry.mercer@firslower.org                       Conkers- Miss Cox- adrienne.cox@firslower.org

              Mrs Donbavand- sarah.donbavand@firslower.org                        Mrs Cameli- maria.cameli@firslower.org

Office Telephone number: 01525 402735

PE lessons 

Acorns and Conkers will have a weekly PE session, every Thursday, starting on 28th 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. Thank you.

Donations!

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

-corks -plastic lids -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 Friday lunchtime at the latest. If changes need to be made after this point, please inform a member of staff on the morning of the change.

Many thanks.

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

DfE Baseline Assessment - Parents

Tapestry 
All parents have now been sent an activation email. Please follow the instructions in the email in order to activate your child’s Tapestry account. Please also check your junk or spam for the email.

Many thanks 

Autumn 
Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking about the changes we see during Autumn. When your child is out and about, please encourage them to look for signs of autumn and to collect objects such as acorns and conkers which they can bring in for the ‘interest’ table. 

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 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.  Ruck sack- If your child doesn’t have a ruck sack yet, these can be purchased from Prestige in Flitwick.

Could we kindly ask that parents arrive at school at the assigned time for their child’s class (Acorns- 8:45-8:55am, Conkers- 9:00-9:10am). In order to keep everyone safe, please avoid arriving any earlier as this will add to the congestion at the gate. We really appreciate your support with this.

Pine WhatsApp Group

Pine parents have set up a WhatsApp group to share information, locate lost items and arrange social events. If you haven’t joined and you would like to, please use this link:-

Pine WhatsAPP

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