St Mary's Infant School Newsletters
Head of school
Newsletter no. 3
20th September 2024
Dear parents / carers,
What a beautiful sunny week we’ve had! The sunshine truly uplifts the spirit and always brings a smile to my face. I’ve had the pleasure of spending time outside with the children during lunch, and it’s heart-warming to see how well they play together and make use of the outdoor equipment.
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Whole School Focus on Reading Thank you for attending our curriculum meetings this week. I hope you gained valuable insights into your child’s learning journey this year. This term, our whole school focus is on reading. At the beginning of the year, our staff participated in reading training based on the latest research and guidance for primary education. At St. Mary’s Catholic Infant School, we aim to foster a love of reading in all our children, encouraging them to read for pleasure both at home and in school. To achieve this, it’s essential for our students to develop strong phonics and comprehension skills. Our goal is for every child to read fluently by the end of Year 2. Did you know that: 25% of children aged 10 and 11 in England do not reach the expected reading level by the end of primary school. This statistic highlights the importance of addressing literacy early. Your child’s reading ability significantly impacts their future opportunities, and we want to ensure that every child at St. Mary’s is equipped for success. As discussed in the curriculum meetings, our only homework request this term is to prioritise reading. We encourage you to read with your child for just 20 minutes each day. This simple act can expose them to an astonishing 1.8 billion words a year, greatly enhancing their vocabulary and literacy skills. To illustrate the difference:
This will have such a positive effect on their vocabulary, reading and writing ability.
Reading is fundamental to unlocking the entire curriculum, as it supports learning across all subjects, including math, RE, history, and art. Hence why we are setting it as the only homework this term.
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They’ve created all sorts of wonderful things with the wooden planks and tires, concocted interesting mixtures in the mud kitchen, and many are learning to skip. It’s lovely to see them helping one another in the dressing-up area, or simply enjoying a moment on the animal cushions or in the reading chair, sharing stories. The way the children interact with each other is truly wonderful!
Reading in each year group across the school looks slightly different.
In Nursery they will be talking about what they can see in the pictures and make up their own stories.
In Reception they will know all of the phase 2 and 3 phonemes and be able to blend sounds together to read simple words.
In Year 1 they will be developing reading fluency and learning the phase 5 phonemes.
In Year 2 they will be developing their fluency and comprehension skills.
Together, we can create a community of confident readers.
Thank you for your support in this important initiative.
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Road Safety We kindly ask all parents to be mindful of where they park during drop-off and pick-up times. There was a near-miss incident outside the junior school, this week, where a child was almost hit due to unsafe parking. While we understand that parking is limited during these busy times, it's important that we all work together as a school community to ensure the safety of our children as they arrive at and leave school each day |
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Meeting On Tuesday 24th September at 9.15am. Come for a cup of tea / coffee and a chat to talk about how we can raise money. I look forward to seeing you there. |
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On Friday 27th September we will he hold a coffee morning to raise money for McMillan cancer support. It will be from 9.30am. Please come along, bring a cake and we will provide tea /coffee and some more cakes. Fingers crossed for nice weather and we can have it in the garden.
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SOME HELP NEEDED If you are able volunteer to come and help us plant the trees and take out the weeds that have grown in our new garden area between Nursey and Reception we would really appreciate it. If you are available to come to give Bob, our caretaker, a hand on Thursday 26th September for the morning or afternoon please come along. Many hands make light work! |
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Wednesdays word|
Have a lovely weekend. May it be blessed with sunshine, love and laughter. God bless Miss Mitchell |