Author: Mr Roundtree

Friday 17 November

This week, our spellings homework is a list of words to learn for a test based on our phonics learning.  Have a look in your child’s book or ask me at the gate if you are unsure of which group they are in.

Group 1

soil
point
coin
rain
wait
train

 

Group 2

soil
point
coin
rain
wait
train
afraid
join
paid
Group 3
two (I can have two bananas.)
to (I would like to go to the farm.)
too (Can I have a banana, too?)
hear (I can hear a bird.)
here (Let’s stop here.)
Group 4
two (I can have two bananas.)
to (I would like to go to the farm.)
too (Can I have a banana too?)
hear (I can hear a bird.)
here (Let’s stop here.)
which (Which way shall we go?)
witch (The wicked witch.)
there (There are six apples.)
their (It is their ball?)
they’re (They’re all girls.)

17 November 2017

For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is talk time and is due in on Thursday 23 November

Which charity should our school support?

Throughout the year, our school will be holding different fundraising events and it’s important that the children have a say in which charity we support. Have a chat with your child and talk about which sorts of charities they would like to support. Write the suggestions and we’ll vote for our chosen charity during our homework review.

You may want to focus on children’s charities. Or, you may have family or friends who work for or have been supported by a charity.

10 November 2017

This week’s spelling homework is a spelling task.

Year 1 have a phonics based spelling task. The children need to use their growing phonics knowledge to recognise the sounds in the words. Using the key at the top, colour the box the correct colour. What picture will it reveal? Have a look in the homework books to see which picture your child has.

Year 2 have a homophones task to complete. Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelt differently. This week we are focusing on to, too and two:

  • I went to the park.
  • I would like to come too.
  • I had two bananas.

Yesterday, you ‘watched us while we work’…

…thanks very much to you if you came along yesterday to the first of our ‘Watch us while we work’ sessions. This was a visit to school to get a flavour of what Reading, Writing and Maths teaching and learning is like in school, and hopefully to help you understand more about your child’s progress and how you can support at home.

Thanks for the feedback, too. Following the visits to classes, you had the opportunity to speak with Miss Hague about what you saw and to raise any questions and comments.

Here’s some of the feedback:

“Excellent to see how the children respond in each class. Year 5,6 was fantastic – hands-on learning, helping each other and talking through problems. Year 3,4 – nice idea using dice to help so calculations. Will use this at home. Year 1,2 – nice to see the children working in groups. Liked the counters to help them.”

“All of it was very good to watch.”

“It was good to see the pride in children as parents watched, and good to see older children taking responsibility for showing children round.”

“The children seemed to be really enjoying the work but also they were challenged. It went really well. Very reassuring.”

“It was good to see what was going on in the classroom and how the children are taught so we can implement this at home.”

That’s great – thanks very much. Teachers will appreciate the comments.

 

St James’ remembers

In November 2015, to mark 100 years since the beginning of World War 1, pupils and staff at St James’ created ceramic poppies, similar to those which surrounded the Tower of London.

This year, to commemorate Remembrance Day, we have constructed a display of our ceramic poppies in  the entrance hall, made by pupils past and present.

Come and have a look as you visit our achievement assembly tomorrow at 2.45pm.

10 November 2017

This week’s homework is practice makes perfect.

Year 1: I know my number bonds to 10. 

For the homework, please support your child to answer the number bond to 10 questions in their homework books.

Also, have a look at Hit the Button for a fun and interactive game for number bonds to 10. (Year 1 could also practise doubles and halves to 10.)

Year 2: I can solve problems with addition and subtraction. 

For the homework, please support your child to answer the addition and subtraction word problems in their homework books.

Also, have a look at Hit the Button for a fun and interactive game where your child can practise their addition and subtraction facts. (There is also doubles, halves and timetables to practise on there.)

03 November 2017

Here are this week’s spellings. Have a look in your child’s book to see which group they are in. Practise spelling these words and writing them in sentences ready to be tested on Friday 10 November.

Group 1
this
that
then
was
you

Group 2
this      book
that      look
then     took
the       food
you      mood

Group 3
because
every
everyone
where
who

Group 4
because     children
every         child
everyone   mild
where        wild
who           kind

03 November 2017

This week’s homework is talk time.

This week, our Living and Learning statement is “I understand rights come with responsibilities”.

Talk to your child and ask them what rights they have? Have a look at the UN convention on the rights of the child where the UN convention of child’s rights are written in a child friendly manner. They include:

  • You have the right to play and rest
  • You have the right to practice your own culture, language and religion
  • You have the right to food

Talk to your child about what responsibilities they have. Think about this in all sorts of situations, including both in school and at home.

Identity

Our Living and Learning theme this half-term is Identity. Pupils will learn about their rights and responsibilities, what makes themselves and others special, valuing the similarities and differences between themselves and others and what is meant by community. This will be taught through our Living and Learning sessions and also two focused weeks – Anti-bullying week (13 November) and Who do you think you are? (20 November).

Our full Living and Learning long term plan is now available on the health pages and you can keep up to date with our weekly Living and Learning statements on the parent noticeboard in the playground and also on the school calendar.

Attendance matters

We’re really happy to see that the first half-term of this school year has seen a really good rise in attendance compared to the same period last year.

  • Autumn 1 last year 96.9%
  • Autumn 1 this year 97.3%

Obviously, the more days your child is at school, the more days they’re learning, so this improvement is great – well done and thank you to pupils and parents/carers. Let’s keep this up throughout the year!

What about each year group? Well, it’s worth looking at to see just how well most of the years groups are doing. A big well done to pupils (and parents/carers!) in Year 2, 3, 4 and 5 – attendance for these year groups is all above the school average. Year 5 aren’t far behind, either!

  • Rec – 96.3%
  • Y1 – 93.3%
  • Y2 – 99.0%
  • Y3 – 98.9%
  • Y4 – 98.8%
  • Y5 – 97.2%
  • Y6 – 98.2%