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Preston
Primary School
Academy

Foundation Stage Newsletter

Welcome

It has been a wonderful couple of weeks, and we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know the children. Starting school is a very important moment for you and your child and it has been a delight welcoming you to Preston Primary.

We are incredibly proud of how they have settled. The children have enjoyed exploring their new learning environment and they have been busy learning new routines and developing new friendships.

The atmosphere in the classroom has been happy and calm. We are thoroughly looking forward to working alongside you all this year. We will regularly produce a newsletter to keep you informed of your child’s learning and our exciting curriculum.

Our Curriculum

We are incredibly proud of the curriculum we create for children.

This half term our learning experience is ‘Marvellous Me’. We will be supporting the children to answer the following questions.

1.Who am I? What makes me unique and special?

2.How are we the same and how are we different?

3.What are our school values, class rules and routines?

4.How do we look after ourselves and others?

Please also support your child at home to answer these questions. We are keen to share your child’s learning with you and we appreciate your support.

Curriculum continued

The children have encountered many ‘firsts’ this week - first swimming lesson, first PE lesson, first visit to the Woodland Camp, first trip to the school library, and first phonic session. The children have approached all these new situations with excitement and enthusiasm. We are incredibly proud of them!

Swimming

Puffins and Penguins were so excited to start their swimming sessions in our outdoor pool this week. They listened well to instructions, and everyone had a big smile on their face! We have posted a photo on Seesaw of your child enjoying their time in the pool. We are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to swim onsite and we are sure you will agree, swimming is an important life skill, particularly living on the coast.

PE

In PE this week the children enjoyed playing games and moving their bodies around the hall in different ways. They were great at following the instructions and enjoyed the exercise to help keep their bodies and minds healthy.

Woodland Camp

The children had lots of fun exploring the Woodland Camp this week. They had a tour around the camp, and we talked about how to keep themselves and others safe. They all looked very smart in their clean mud suits and wellies, but they will not stay clean for long! The children were very excited and cannot wait to visit again next week.

School Library

The children had their first trip to our school library this week. They enjoyed looking at the different books and we started talking about the difference between fiction and non-fiction. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum.

Visiting the library is a chance for the children to independently choose a book to share at home with you. We are not expecting the children to read these books themselves; they are to share with a grown up for pleasure. We will visit the library every week. Please ensure your child has their library book in school every Monday and Tuesday so they can choose a new one. Please encourage your child to look after their library book.

Can we ask that water bottles are not carried in children’s book bags as sometimes they leak. Thank you.

We will post an image of their chosen library book on Seesaw, and it would be lovely if over the week you could click the ‘Add Response’ button and help your child record a short voice message or video telling us what they enjoyed about the book. Please also tell us about all the other wonderful books you are enjoying at home together. We will discuss school library books in our online parent phonic session on the 28th September.

Phonics – Read Write Inc

Read Write Inc (RWInc) is the phonic programme we use in school. Your child’s reading journey is exciting, fascinating, and fun. At this stage we do not learn the letter names we learn the sounds of the letters. This week we started learning the phonics sounds ‘m’, ‘a’, ‘s’ and ‘d’. As part of RWInc, the children are learning to orally blend sounds in cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. You can do this at home using pictures or real objects. Ask your child “Please could you get me the b-a-g” and give your child chance to jump in and blend the sounds to make the word bag. Do this for simple words like hat, dog, bin, mug, leg. We will assign an oral blending video on Seesaw for your child to join in with.

Phonic Information Session – Wednesday 28th September 5pm

On Wednesday 28th September at 5.00pm we will be holding an online phonic information session. We will explain how your child learns to read in school and how you can help at home. We will talk about the importance of reading and phonics and how your child will progress through the Read Write Inc programme. We will e-mail all parents a Microsoft Teams link for the session. In preparation for the session, we will also send you a form to add any particular questions you may have about phonics and your child’s reading journey. We will then strive to answer all your questions in the session. We hope you can join us; we anticipate that the session will be no longer than 40 minutes.

Seesaw

We hope you are enjoying the updates on Seesaw; we find this an incredibly effective form of communication. We will continue to use Seesaw to post images and messages about your child’s learning. We will sometimes assign activities on a Friday for your child to complete. These are short, fun activities often linked to phonics and maths. The activities will link to our learning in school to help your child revisit key knowledge and skills. Reading for pleasure is a whole school priority and we love to share our passion for books. To support this, every Friday we will record a video of ourselves reading a story for your child and the family to enjoy. You do not need to complete any activities, just enjoy the stories. If you have any queries regarding Seesaw, please contact us.

Uniform

Thank you for your continued support in providing your child with the correct uniform for school. It is important for children to wear their uniform with pride. Please can we remind you that school uniform is a white buttoned shirt with the correct school tie, no polo shirts. School shoes must be black – no trainers, and hair longer than shoulder length must be tied back. Thank you for your cooperation.

Dates

Monday 19th September - School will be closed for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

Friday 23rd September – Tempest Photography individual pupil photos, and sibling photos:

Children’s individual photos will be taken during the school day. You are welcome to bring siblings into school from 8am to have a photo together before school starts.

Wednesday 28th September 5pm – Online Parent Phonic Information Session via Teams

Monday 24th October-Friday 4th November – Half Term

Kind Regards Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team

Address
Preston Primary School Academy
Old Paignton Road
Torquay
Devon
TQ2 6UY

Phone
01803 607075