Our weekly message: Friday 04 October

Friday 04 October 2024

Watch us while we work

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Watch Us While we Work session – it was great to see so many of you. And thanks if you found the time to fill in our online feedback form – here’s one of the comments:

Great tips for how to help my child at home. Great to see the learning environment, too.

We take your feedback really seriously. One thing we’re often asked is whether we can organise this differently to help children who are in different year groups. We’ll keep exploring whether this would work, but in the meantime, do remember to next Watch Us While We Work session on Thursday 23 January.

Class trips

Previously, you’ve told us you’re keen for class trips to happen. We value trips as a way to enrich learning and broaden children’s learning experiences. Our list of the main trips we’ve got planned are on page 4 of our Topic Curriculum Guide (but please remember we sometimes have to re-arrange or even cancel based on availability, or reluctantly if we don’t receive enough in voluntary donations).

 

The rest of this week’s message comes from our Writing Curriculum Leader…

Spellings

By now, you’ll be familiar with the homework arrangements. Every week in Key Stage 1, or every half-term in Key Stage 2, your child is given a set of spellings to learn as part of their homework.

But why? They’ll probably just use autocorrect on their computer or tablet when they’re older, won’t they? You, like many others, might have found yourself asking these same questions. And, to an extent, there’s some truth in this.

However, we believe spelling is a really important life-skill that is crucial to your child’s success in education. We find that children who can spell more accurately feel more confident about their writing – and we want all our children to feel proud and confident of their learning.

Also, research shows us that thinking about spellings takes up a large part of your working memory when writing (or typing). This means that if you’re able to have to think less about spelling, you’ve more brain power to think about other things: word choice, thinking creatively or pitching your written communication at the right level for your reader.

Help at home by helping your child learn their spellings. This doesn’t need to be for long and it doesn’t need to be boring. Here are some practical tips for effectively learning spellings at home…

If you’d like any help about how to support your child with their writing, please speak to their class teacher.

Next week, we’ve the school photographer in to take individual pics (the class pic is taken later in the year. There’s also a Reception Stay and Learn session. And finally, don’t forget our Harvest Collection. Have a good weekend.