Welcome back to school for our first term! We hope that you have all had a very restful and enjoyable summer despite the weather. We have had a brilliant start to the year and we are all very much looking forward to another busy and exciting year ahead. We will be holding a ‘Meet the Teacher’ session next Wednesday 13^th September when we hope to meet as many of you as possible.

Topic

Our units of work this term are centred on two main areas of learning. In our first Topic “They Made a Difference” we will be investigating British Culture and Values and the lives of inspirational individuals who have helped to change and shape our society. We will be investigating the development of Democracy and Universal Suffrage as well as the struggle for racial and gender equality. We will also be discussing issues the children feel passionately about and what they might take a stand on. We shall then be directing our learning towards a science unit where we will investigate Evolution and Inheritance.

In Maths, our first topic will be place value as this underpins arithmetic. We will then move on to Addition and subtraction. Our work in English and Guided Reading will be based on The boy at the back of the classroom by Onjalie Rauf and The Arrival by Shaun Tan.

Home Learning

It is still essential that the children are completing home learning tasks in order to consolidate their learning. Spellings will continue to be sent home on a Friday for the following week. We recommend that the children spend a short amount of time each day practising these. This term, we are also sending out some optional home learning challenges for the children to further their engagement with our topic. Children can pick one or two activities and there will be an opportunity to bring in and share towards the end of the term.

Daily	Weekly
Regular reading both independently and with an adult/older sibling. Please record reading in the Reading Record/ homework planner. Maths/ number facts/ times tables practice. Spelling practice either on Spellingframe or on the statutory word sheets.	Spellings- Homework task set each Friday due in for the following Friday. We will alternate each week between setting spelling patterns on Spellingframe and setting statutory words in their spelling folders.

Alongside our usual homework expectations around daily reading, spellings practice and learning number facts

(number bonds and times tables), we would also like to encourage the children to engage with our wider topic at home. These activities are completely optional and are intended as an opportunity for the children to explore our school curriculum creatively. On the last Friday of term, we would encourage the children to bring any pick and mix home learning they have done or photos of some of the things that they have been up to into school to share with the class.

Home learning tasks are designed to support and reinforce essential learning and provide opportunities for you and your children to share learning experiences. Completion of tasks will be monitored and celebrated. Please ensure that the children’s homework diaries are checked, signed and filled in to indicate when they have done home learning including reading.

Reading

Reading is an essential part of the children’s learning and we cannot stress enough how beneficial it is for the children to be reading regularly at home. Children in Upper Key Stage Two are encouraged to develop stamina in reading. We will ensure that the book children are reading is appropriately pitched for their ability (whether this is a book they have borrowed from school or a book they are reading from home) and they are encouraged to read whole texts rather than flitting between books. This will enable them to develop their stamina in reading and understanding of character and plot development. If children would like to read other books or texts (including newspapers, magazines and comics) in addition to their reading book, then we encourage this but they may need to share these with an adult if they are beyond their capability.

Expectations and responsibilities

PE Kit

PE sessions will be held on the days stated below; however, there will be occasions where we will need to be flexible so please ensure your child has their PE kit available in school every day.

PE kit should consist of black shorts or jogging bottoms, their house coloured plain t-shirt and their school jumper. Please could be items be named.

Falcon – Thursday  and Friday

Osprey – Tuesday and Friday

Kestrel – Monday  and Wednesday

Stationery and other personal belongings

The children are provided with all the equipment they will need on a day-to-day basis; therefore, children do not need to have their own pencil cases in school. However, they may bring a small pencil case if they wish. We ask the children to be respectful of other people’s belongings.

Children should bring in a bottle of water (preferably with a sports cap) for use within the classroom.

Planning time

Each week, the teachers in our phase have planning and preparation time, which they complete out of class. This will be on the following days, with the following cover arrangements:

Kestrel – Tuesday (all day) covered by Mrs Pennington

Falcon – Thursday morning covered by Mrs Edwards

Osprey – Wednesday (all day) covered by Mrs Pennington

Behaviour

In Upper Key Stage Two, we expect all children to be role models to younger children and to be demonstrating the high expectations we have of behaviour and conduct, both in and out of the classroom, and of their attitude to learning.

We will continue this year to embed our Paxcroft citizen values of kindness, honesty and respect and these will be celebrated at all times.

As one of our learner’s values, we encourage the children's independence in communicating messages; however, any important messages can be communicated via email to the office admin@paxcroft.wilts.sch.uk or please feel free to pop in and see us; we hold an open door policy and are more than happy to arrange a convenient time to meet.

Kind regards,

Mrs Sager, Miss Spratt and Miss Westlake