Key Stage 1 - 11th September 2020

 Dear Families,

It has been fantastic to welcome all the children back to school this week! They have been an absolute credit to you all as they have adapted to the new classroom set ups and the different structure of the day admirably. Huge thanks to you all too for being very supportive in following the new drop off and pick up routines - it has been very much appreciated!

Our Week in KS1

This week we have been spending time getting to know our new classroom set-up and day-to-day routines. We have also spent time working on place value in maths - ordering and partitioning numbers into their tens and ones. In English we have been extending and transferring some of the report writing skills we discussed in the lockdown blogs to write about other animals in our world. Can you choose an animal to research further at home?

Homework

As we move through this transition half term, we will be approaching homework in a slightly different way. We cannot send homework books back and forth between home and school currently and many of you will have finished existing books during lockdown. We will, therefore, be setting homework tasks on these weekly blogs for you to complete at home but, just as we did in previous blogs, please email your child's work to us; either as an attached file or as a photograph. This week we are looking for posters that celebrate reasons for why your child is glad to be back at school. This could be something that they have missed or a pleasant surprise in returning to their classes!

Reading Books From Home

As the children become more settled in being back at school, we are looking to re-introduce many aspects of their normal school day. One of which is ERIC - Everyone Reading In Class. As we cannot share class books between children at the moment, each child will need to bring a book in from home which they will enjoy reading on a daily basis. We have encouraged them to bring a book that they are happy to leave in school each day (until they have finished it). If you could send your child in with a book from next week this will be very helpful.

Keeping In Touch

As teachers, we find it very hard to not be there to welcome our children at the gate each morning and we are extremely mindful that opportunities to have that informal chat at the end of the day are also problematic. To this end, we would like to encourage you to use our Key Stage email address to ask us any questions or allay any concerns that you might have. Please do not feel that anything is not important enough to ask - you might just want to tell us how your child is feeling on being back! If you feel more happy speaking to us on the phone then this is also absolutely fine - just ring the office and request a call. We will seek to respond to any calls or emails as soon as humanly possible in this current time.

Well that's it for this week - it has been so lovely to see all the children again and dip a toe in normality!

Much love,

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald - Welcome Back!

 Dear Families,

We hope that you are all well and that your children are ready and looking forward to returning to school on Monday! We have been very busy getting the school ready to welcome your children back and here are a few reminders about our first week.

The children will only need to bring a water bottle and a lunch box (washable, of any type) from home. You can order a school packed lunch, which is made in the school kitchen, if you prefer. Children who were Year 2's last academic year are no longer covered by the Universal Free School Meals. Payments for those children's school packed lunch will need to be made via Scopay (£2.10 per packed lunch). Please ring the office if you need advice on this payment method.

The menu can be found here: Lunch Menu.

All children will be coming in and leaving by the Downhall Park Way entrance. We have chosen this entrance as it enables us to have a distinct entry and exit point (like in most public buildings) so we can maintain social distancing and keep our community safe. Please see the photo for clarification:

As there are staggered start and finish times, a reminder that the children are due to start and finish at:

Emerald: 9:00am - 3:25pm

Amethyst: 9:05am - 3:30pm

Diamond: 9:10am - 3:35pm

However, if your child has a sibling in school, then they both arrive and leave school together at the earliest of the 2 times. A full list of all classes' timings and further details can be found in this letter: 

Start and finish times

Any visits to the school, including the office, are strictly by appointment only so it is very important to ensure that your child has everything they need with them for each day.

In the mornings, children will be focusing on English, Maths and Phonics. They will be learning from a combination of objectives they would have covered in the Summer Term as well as beginning to access the Year 2 and Year 3 curriculum. In the afternoon we will focus on art and project work. Although there is no PE for the first 2 weeks we will be taking part in the Daily Mile!

The DfE have published guidance for parents about children returning to school. This can be found here: Returning to school

If you have any questions you can still contact us on our email address below. Thank you in advance for your patience and support. We are, obviously, constantly reviewing the situation and adapting our plans accordingly. We will update you via our blogs as and when needed.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

We are all very much looking forward to seeing you next week!

Mr Jude, Mrs O'Connor & Mrs Yuille