Stoke Primary School

Briton Road

Coventry

CV2 4LF

Head Teacher

Tel

Fax

Email

Mr M Ascroft

024 7645 1724

024 7643 1209

office@stoke.coventry.sch.uk

www.stoke.coventry.sch.uk

13^th September 2021

Welcome to Year 1- Woodpecker Class

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back! It is lovely to have the children back in school and they are already enthused by the topic ‘Superheroes and Villains’. The children have enjoyed learning about superheroes and villains, real life heroes and what it means to be a hero. The children have had a lot of fun using their imagination to create their own superhero stories in our small world area, designing their own superhero costumes, writing about their own superhero and villain, and using their maths knowledge to count and order superheroes in maths. We cannot wait to see what we will be learning next. We will also be having a celebration dress up day to finish off our topic on Thursday 23rd September- children are invited to come dressed up as their favourite hero/ superhero. This doesn’t need to be a purchased costume, children could make a mask or cape that represents their hero from materials you have a home.

Lots of our time in these early weeks in Year 1 is spent getting children used to new routines.  We are keeping some of the play-based approaches children are used to from Reception and gradually building up our expectations of their independence and concentration. The children are having busy days at school and working through a number of different subjects within a day.  It is important that they have plenty of sleep to prepare them for the day ahead.

One of the areas that you can support your child with at home is reading.  Year 1 is an important year for progress in this area, as children secure the basics and build up their confidence.  Children should be reading their school reading book with an adult, 3 times per week at home and practising any phonics and word cards that have been sent home. Please make sure you record each time your child reads to you in their school diary.  Diaries will be checked on a weekly basis and we will be giving out reading raffle tickets to the children who have read 3 times, with a weekly draw for prizes. If you have any questions about reading, please do not hesitate to ask.

Children can bring a water bottle into the classroom for drinks during the day.  This should only have water in please, not juice.  If children have packed lunches, you may wish to send a separate juice drink for lunch.  Children still get fruit provided for snack and will have this during break time.

This term our PE days are Monday and Friday. Children should have a PE kit sent into school and left here for the half term.  Children will have Monday PE lessons inside and Friday lessons outside, so for PE they need: a house-coloured t-shirt (available from the school office), black shorts, black joggers/ leggings, a jumper for outside PE and pumps or trainers.  Thank you to those parents who have already sent kit in, if you need to add any further items to your child’s PE bag, send them in with your child on a PE day and staff will help to transfer them over. Please make sure EVERY item of clothing, including school jumpers and t-shirts are labelled with your child’s name.  Children will be changing independently and lost items are difficult to find if they have not been named. If children have not yet mastered buckles/buttons/ zips/ laces, it is important that you teach them how, as part of your routine at home and we will continue to support at school in the short term.

Please remember to come and speak to any member of the Year 1 team if you have any questions or queries. There will always be one of us on the gate in the morning and afternoon. We look forward to working with you over the coming year.

Yours Sincerely

Miss Joyce and Mrs Brown