Happy Friday, everybody! Only one more week to go until half term but it is a very busy one! Here are some things to keep an eye out for!
Collection Arrangements From Monday
From Monday, all the gates will be open at the end of the day. Please collect your children from the playground outside Amethyst, Diamond and Emerald class. If your child has a sibling in Pearl class, you will need to collect them from the Early Years outside area. Here is a link to the letter from the website:
Colchester Castle Letter
On Monday, there will be a letter coming home with further details about our trip to Colchester Castle on 15th March. In particular, this will include a parental consent slip and payment information. We would like to say a huge thanks to the PTA who have made a contribution towards the trip to keep the price down. All payments should be made via Scopay - if you do not have details to log in, please contact the office to request these details again.
PTA Wear Something Red & Coin Run - Friday 11th February
On the Friday before half term, the PTA will be holding their first school event for a considerable time. On this day, the children can come to school wearing something red (for a £1 contribution) - but we ask that the rest of their clothing is normal school uniform please! The children are also encouraged to bring in any coins that you do not need so they can take place in a coin run - which class will create the longest line of coins? For more information please click on the link below:
Mid-Year Report
Also on Friday 11th February, your child will come home with their Mid-Year Report. This report is different to previous years in so far that we have focused fully on areas for development in reading, writing and maths. "What can we do to help my child at home?" is probably the most common question as teachers that we are asked so we have very clearly set out 3 or 4 next step targets that we will be focusing on for your child in school for the rest of the year ahead. This will give you a clear understanding of areas for development in each curriculum area and enable you to further support these at home too. There will be a chance to discuss this report with us on Friday 25th February on our Parent/Teacher Consultations day - details of which can be found in the letter below:
Message From Mrs Hurley - Times Tables Workshop - INVITATION TO ALL PARENTS
Times tables are at the heart of mental arithmetic, which in itself helps form the basis of a child’s understanding and ability when working with numbers. Once children have learnt their times tables to fluency and instant recall, they are then able to work more confidently through a wide range of calculations and problem solving.
Join us for a Parent Workshop based on Times Tables and how they are taught at Down Hall Primary.
Tuesday 1st March 2022 1.30-2.15pm
At this stage Mrs Hurley will be conducting this session via Zoom but there may be a change in restrictions which will enable the session to run in the school hall with social distancing measures put in place. If this is the case then we would need to limit numbers to a maximum of 30 people.
With special guests (Times Table Champions)
If you would like to attend, please email Mrs Hurley: year3_4@downhallprimary.com
We would love to hear from you!
Message From Miss Sharman - PE
After half term, we will be making some exciting changes to our PE lessons.
We will be welcoming some new coaches from Jack Of All Sports to our team.
Mrs Perrins, Mr Attfield, Mr Gray and Mr Harrington will deliver lessons along with Mrs Williamson.
Please ensure that your child has the correct PE uniform on PE days. This should consist of:
Plain, navy blue tracksuit (No logos please e.g. Nike/Puma etc)
Plain, navy blue shorts
School t-shirt
Plain, black trainers (No bright coloured soles or stripes please)
We are really looking forward to working with Mr Harrington and his team and can't wait to welcome them to Down Hall.
If you have any questions regarding PE, please email me using the Year 5/6 email address:
year5_6@downhallprimary.com
Miss Sharman
Maths Homework
This week we would like you to look at pages 38-39.
For Year 1's this looking at quarters. This extends the idea from last week of thinking of half as divided by 2. It also explores how a quarter is half of a half.
For Year 2's, this is looking at the fractions of thirds and quarters. Again, link this idea to division and sharing.
Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.
Wow - that was a lot! As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over!
