Dear Parents/ Guardians,
Welcome back to the new school year and the wonderful Dosbarth Hafan (Haven class).
My name is Stephanie Williams, I am the KS2 Resource Base teacher. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the new members of our class this week, as well as hearing all the news about the holidays from our existing members. This year, Mrs McQueen and I will strive to encourage and support the children to the best of our ability, while ensuring the nurturing ethos of our Resource Base family. We will continue with our split mornings, where all children will attend the Resource Base for the morning session and return to their home school class in the afternoon.
I have attached a One Page Profile family input form and kindly ask that you complete it to help us update your child’s One Page Profile. In order to keep up to date with school news and events you can join the Ysgol Swn Y Don Facebook page, where you will then be added to the private ‘Parents of’ page.
Mathematics
We will be developing our number skills daily. We will be learning about the calendar, the seasons and telling the time. We will develop our money handling skills to order and compare items, record money spent and saved and also furthering our measuring skills through practical activities. These are life skills that you may like to encourage while at home or out shopping, this will further develop your child’s understanding, as well as boost their confidence. We will also be revising our times tables and using them in problem solving activities. We will be continuing to use RM Easimaths and TT Rock Stars daily and would like you to encourage your child to use this at home, I will provide a copy of their log in details for home use.
English
We will develop our spelling and handwriting skills through small group activities and using the Penpal scheme. We will continue to use the Read Write Inc. programme, which has proved a great success in developing reading skills. The children are encouraged to read individually and as part of a group to encourage their confidence. We will use the When, Who, Where, What happened and The End to extend narrative understanding, and encourage you to use this concept at home. We will also be using our lovely class books to predict, enquire, question, create our own character descriptions, a dialogue and other creative writing pieces. We will continue to use ICT to develop our learning through the individual programmes Wordshark and Starspell.
Wellbeing
Having a happy, warm ethos is an important part of our class. We encourage kindness through our interactions with each other and help establish a nurturing approach with praise, tone of voice and a sense of calm. We will continue to use ‘The Colour Monster’ story as a way of sharing and explaining our feelings and teach the children that it is ok to feel each of the emotions. We will also be referring to the storybook ‘Have You Filled A Bucket Today?’ to help the children understand how their actions and interactions with others can have an impact. We will look at and motivate the children to ‘fill’ the buckets of those around them through kind words and gestures, however we will also discuss the impact of ‘dipping into’ the bucket.
In order to encourage good choices in class and throughout the school, children are encouraged to stay on the ‘Right Track’ which is a gentle reminder for the children to make the correct choice and change unacceptable behavior. Praise and rewards are generously given for examples of good effort and behaviour, with tokens given and a half termly class reward chosen by the children.
Forest School with Mrs Davies will take place on Thursday morning. Year 3 and 4 pupils will be in group 1 with Year 5 and 6 pupils in group 2, taking place on alternate weeks. The pupils should be in their ‘active school uniform’ for these activities and not their own clothes. For the outside please make sure that they have a waterproof coat and some wellies if they have them.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school or through email: Williamss1897@hwbcymru.net
Thank you for your continued support
Yours sincerely,
Miss Stephanie Williams
KS2 Resource Base teacher